


Sunflower

by lokilickedme



Category: Tom Hiddleston - Fandom
Genre: Body Exploration, Caretaking, Disabled Character, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Family Drama, First Dates, First Kiss, First Time, Gentle Kissing, Gentle Sex, Gentleness, Innocence, Licking, Loss of Virginity, Mutual Masturbation, Nipple Play, Non-Explicit Sex, Oral Sex, Orgasm Denial (self), Paraplegic Sex, Romance, Sexual Inexperience, Stroking, Tender Sex, Tenderness, Touching, True Love, Vaginal Fingering, Virginity, care/concern, clitoral stimulation, cold shower, embarrassingly inappropriate boners, gentle smut, orgasm without sex, outside forces working against the relationship, respect, stubborn Tommy, sweet romance, wheelchair
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-13
Updated: 2016-11-21
Packaged: 2018-05-30 07:01:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 29,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6413650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lokilickedme/pseuds/lokilickedme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tommy and Chloe met quite by accident - a polite greeting in a grocery store checkout lane - but their lives become inextricably entwined when her over-protective sister traces the plates on a car illegally parked in the disabled spot to him.  Forced to do penance, Tommy spends a little time with Chloe and finds himself looking for ways to keep the new friendship going despite what others would consider formidable roadblocks...while locking horns with her sister at every turn.  A sweet romance about overcoming obstacles and never giving up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 

                                                            

 

 

 

 

She pulled herself up and scooted to the edge of the bed, giggling as he slipped his arms under her knees and brought her legs around, setting her feet on the floor.  He was still singing with that goofy smile on his face and it made her feel ridiculously happy...he was like an angel, her _own_ sweet angel, the person she never thought would find their way into her life.  He raised his face to hers and his eyes were so bright in the morning sunlight that it took her breath away for one exciting moment, that interminable second when you first go under the water and your panic response stutters briefly on _am I going to drown or will I find the surface again?_

"Dance with me, pretty girl."

She gave him a scolding look but he wasn't about to be deterred.  "Come on.  Up with you.  I love this song, it's a shame to waste it."

Leaning over to slide his arms under hers, he lifted her easily, holding her against his chest as he shifted his grip so that his arms circled her back.  She felt him nudge his feet under hers, then he lowered her just a little so that when he moved his legs, hers moved with them.

"See?  There's nothing to dancing.  All you need is a good song and someone to mock your total lack of rhythm."

She laughed, tilting her head back to look up at him.  "So all we need now is the good song."  A fake pained look came to his face and he began singing more loudly, with even more determination, spinning her slowly.

_"A little bit of Sandra in the sun_  
_A little bit of Mary all night long_  
_A little bit of Jessica here I am_  
_A little bit of you makes me your man..."_

 

_**Eight years before** _

There was nothing beyond the shrill sound of tires losing traction, no memory of the car trying its best to stay on the road despite being pushed sideways through the divider wall between the two lanes.  The sound of another car losing control was followed by the dizzying sight of headlights rolling and then flashing toward the sky, of her mind thinking briefly _well that's not right_...but after that there was nothing until the bright lights of the emergency room blinded her, the only sound now the voices of a dozen strangers rushing to save someone's life as she looked around, hoping that whoever they were, they were going to be okay.

_**A week later** _

Her head hurt, but she opened her eyes as she was told, earning praise from someone whose voice she had come to recognize through the hazy fog she'd been lost in.  It gradually cleared, and other voices joined the one she knew.

Most of their words had no meaning, but the ones that did made tears squeeze out the corners of her eyes.  She hadn't thought at first that they were talking about her, but when she tried to wiggle her toes like the familiar voice asked, she knew the words were about her after all.

 

_**Eight years later** _

"Would you like to go ahead of me?"

"No, no - I'm good.  Thanks."

"But you only have one thing."  She motioned to the basket full of groceries on her lap, then at his lone bottle of vitamin water.  "I'm going to take a while.  Go on ahead of me."

He smiled, an embarrassed sort of loopy grin that was every bit as bright as his brilliant blue eyes.  "Are you sure you don't mind?  I'm really in no rush."

She shook her head, gripping the wheels of her chair to move back so that he could step in front of her.  He thanked her graciously as he put his bottle on the counter and pulled out his wallet.  He looked back at her, his eyes sweeping over her briefly as his smile returned.  "You look very nice.  Going to a party?"

"Just getting back from a wedding."

"Ah."  He smiled, leaning toward her slightly, raising one eyebrow quizzically.  "Were you the bride?"  She laughed, pursing her lips at him.  

"No."

"Bridesmaid?"

"Can you see me in a procession?  I've run over my own dress so many times it's gone beyond ridiculous."

He looked down, nodding, noticing the hem of her long dress was hanging to the floor.  "You're about to to pass ridiculous and enter the realm of ludicrous."  Crouching down, he lifted a handful of the dirtied ivory satin and tucked it behind her leg.  She flinched.

"Sorry," he said quietly, a look of mildly panicked concern crossing his face.  "I didn't mean to - "

"It's okay."  She waved her hand, indicating it was nothing.  "The nerves in my legs are a little unpredictable sometimes."  His brow was furrowed in worry so she smiled to reassure him, leaning forward to push her fingertip into the crease between his eyebrows.  He gave her a quick grin and stood up.

The cashier rang up his water and he paid, but instead of leaving he stuffed his wallet back into his pocket and turned around to lift her basket onto the counter.  "Can I carry your things to the car for you?" Looking around, he didn't notice anyone waiting by the doors.  "You're not alone, are you?"

"My sister is here somewhere, probably in the parking lot screaming at the owner of the Camaro that was parked in the handicapped spot."

A look of horror came over his face and his mouth dropped open, followed by a groan as his hand came up over his face.  "Shit, that's me."

"Ahh."  She couldn't keep from laughing out loud, he looked so mortified.

"Oh god...I'm so sorry...it's two in the morning, there were three other cars in the entire lot, I wasn't thinking - "

"It's okay.  Really.  We parked right next to you, it was actually closer."

"Fuck."  He slapped a hand over his mouth, his sheepish look turning to pure embarrassment.  "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry."

"You're going to have to move."

"Yes, I'll go move it right now - "

"No, I mean you need to move or I'll run over your foot."  She'd paid and had her basket in her lap again, inching her chair forward till the footrest was tapping him on the shin.  "Beep."

He scrambled out of the way, cheeks red, as a voice from the sliding entrance doors began shouting a license plate number, demanding to know who the car parked illegally in the handicapped spot belonged to.

"Don't say anything, just go in the bathroom until we leave.  Trust me on this."  She nodded toward the snack bar, pushing past him to meet her sister before she got too far into the store.

As he headed for the restrooms, he turned back to look at her again.  "Is there any chance I could get your phone number?"

"I'll have yours by tomorrow afternoon," she said with a laugh, pointing toward her sister at the customer service desk.  "Once she has the police trace your license plate, I'll know everything there is to know about you.'

The look of panic came back to his face, but she was laughing, and somehow he felt like she'd find a way to make it okay.

"Right," he said, backpeddling into the men's room door.  "Well, call me when she traces me, if you want to maybe chat a bit.  Maybe I could take you out for a coke or something, to make up for it - you know, since I'm really good at parking in the disabled spot already.  Might as well give myself a reason to do it legally."

She nodded, turning away quickly as her sister came striding over, indignantly complaining about inconsiderate assholes in a loud voice meant to be heard all over the store.  "They're probably hiding in the bathroom," she groused, grabbing the basket and heading for the door without waiting.  "If it wasn't time for your meds I'd sit on the hood of their car all night - they have to come out some time."  She was to the door before she glanced back.  "Come on Chloe, let's go."

Reaching down to hike up the hem of her long dress, the girl turned to glance over at the men's room and saw him standing there, his head poking out the door, checking to see if her sister was gone yet.  He waved, that sheepish little grin coming back to his face again.

"See ya, Chloe," he mouthed silently.

 

 

 

                   

 

 

 

_To be continued..._

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

 

                                                                  

 

 

"So what did you do to this one?

"This one is going to writhe in humiliation.  On top of the fine he has to pay."

Chloe sighed, a heavy frown hidden behind her hand as she turned to wheel herself to the kitchen table.  She knew her protests would fall on deaf ears...no one got a pass once her sister had them in her sights, not even with her attempted intervention.  But it was worth a try at least, if for no other reason than the guy had seemed genuinely contrite and _nice...._ nice had to count for something, didn't it?  And he had apologized in the store, sincerely, before he had anything to gain by doing so or anything to lose by not.  "Oh Amy, come on - why do both to him?  Isn't one or the other sufficient?"

"Nope.  He got a fine, an official warning, and he's going to come over here and apologize to you _to your face._  He's going to have to look straight into the eyes of the person he wronged and say he's sorry.  I find that works really well with my kindergartners."

"Oh my god, he's not five and neither am I.  Don't forget that scenario's going to be embarrassing for me too, I have to sit there and look at him while he's being made to apologize like he pulled my hair or something."

Amy shrugged, her face a mask of stern determination and zero compassion.  "You'll get over it.  More importantly, it'll drive the lesson home so that he'll be less likely to do it again."

"Do you ever have repeat offenders in your class?"

"Not often."

"Of course not...they'd be too terrified."

The stern determination quickly shifted to what could only be described as gleeful spite as Amy sat down and began writing.   _"Exactly."_

 

 

A bright smile met her at the door, the tall young man meeting her disapproving gaze without apprehension.  "Hullo...I'm here to - "

"Apologize to Chloe, yes I know.  Come in."

She stepped aside, waving him in;  his smile turned a bit sheepish as he lowered his head to enter, giving the impression of a tucked tail as he said _thank you_  politely and came inside.  Chloe was watching from the adjacent sitting room and giggled a bit at how embarrassed he looked, though his ducked head could just as easily have been to avoid hitting the top of the doorframe - he was tall, almost shockingly so, and his head came to within inches of contact as he came through.  She hadn't really noticed in the store how attractive he was, all black hair and blue eyes and long arms and legs, but now in the bright sunlight of her front room it was far more noticeable.  She'd had a crush on a lanky boy in junior high and his passing resemblance made her cheeks flush a little.

"Hey."

His head whipped around, his face breaking into a wide smile when he saw her waving to him from the next room.  "Hey Chloe."  He waved back and abruptly shoved his hands into his pockets when he saw Amy glaring at him.  She wasn't impressed that they were on a first name basis already and he realized, too late, that he'd probably just made a very big mistake.

"You two know each other?"

"We... _met_...just briefly, in the store."

"Aha.  Okay, so then maybe this is the part where you tell her you're sorry for being a selfish jerk and taking her parking place.  Those spots are designated for a reason, you know."

His hands shot up in front of him, silencing her before she could continue.  "Yes, I know, and I'm so, _so_ sorry.  I wasn't thinking and - "  He looked over at Chloe, smiling guiltily again.  "Well there's no excuse and I'm sorry.  I hope you'll forgive me."  His apology was directed to Chloe, not to Amy, a purposeful move meant to shut the older woman out of the conversation.  He knew this was all for her benefit, to make her feel good about defending her sister, but a perverse need to be arbitrary about it had overtaken him the moment he'd seen Chloe's hesitant smile.   _This is making her uncomfortable and that isn't fair._

Chloe wheeled into the room then, maneuvering around the furniture till she was close enough to reach her hand out to take his;  she noticed that when he looked at her, his eyes came straight to hers - not to the chair, not to her legs, not darting curiously over the rest of her - or worse, looking away with that uncomfortable embarrassment that people always seemed to experience when dealing with someone disabled.  He looked at her face and nowhere else.  His eyes were on her now and they were so bright and kind and _blue_ that she felt a little bit funny.

"You're forgiven," she said, giving his hand a quick, firm shake.  She leaned to the side to look around him, watching her sister going into the kitchen and waiting for the door to shut behind her before continuing in a lowered voice.  "She's going to shame you as much as she can, just look remorseful and nod a lot and she'll eventually stop."

"You seem very skilled at running interference for her victims."  He motioned toward the door, confusion quirking up the corner of his mouth.  "Am I not supposed to leave?  I rather got the impression she was dismissing me."

"I've never seen her let anyone off this easy."

He laughed quietly, leaning down to whisper, _"This was easy?"_

Amy returned from the kitchen with a sheet of paper and Chloe groaned, shooting the boy a sympathetic look.

"As your act of contrition you're going to do Chloe's shopping for the week.  Here's the list, I'll expect you to follow it to the letter and have everything unloaded and put away yourself.  You can ask her where things go but she's not to help you."  She handed him the list, shaking it in front of him before he reached out to take it.  "Is that all clear?"

He nodded, but looked more amused than remorseful.   _Oh crap no, don't do that_  Chloe thought to herself frantically.  Amy didn't take well to people having a sense of humor and even less well to any implication of not being taken seriously.

"Is something about this funny?"

"No," he said quickly, folding the list and tucking it into his jacket pocket.  "Not at all, I'm just very impressed with the intensity of your sense of justice."

_"My inten - "_  She stopped, crossing her arms angrily.  "I'm not joking around here, I want you to look at that girl.  Go on, look at her!"

He didn't look at Chloe, but fixed his gaze intently on Amy instead.  She glared at him, her temper rising with every second that he disobeyed her, till finally he shook his head disdainfully.

"You really should think about how you're making Chloe feel with your histrionics.  I mean, I know you mean well and you're absolutely right, I did something awful and I should be made to make amends, which I fully intend to do.  But embarrassing your sister in the process isn't cool."  He finally turned to Chloe, kneeling down so that he was at eye level with her.  "I apologize for this, Chloe, you didn't ask for any of it."

_His eyes really are blue,_ she caught herself thinking as he smiled at her;  he had taken her hand and squeezed it, just for a moment before gently stroking his thumb over the backs of her knuckles.  Amy made a scoffing sound as she moved closer, staring purposefully at their hands.

"You can leave now.  Come back when you have her groceries."  Her voice held an absolute tone of no nonsense but the young man took his time obeying, feeling less and less intimidated by her as the girl in front of him smiled knowingly.

_She's sweet...too bad her sister is such a pit bull._

He stood, patting his pocket where the shopping list was tucked.  "I'll be back."

 

 

As he left the apartment he couldn't resist slamming the door, just a little - just enough to let the big sister know he wasn't going to tiptoe around her like he was afraid of her.  He had both an older brother and a younger sister, he knew all the degrees of bullying and being bullied and just how hard a person could push back before getting pounded.  As the middle child he'd learned early how to walk that incredibly thin line...but he was facing a deadline for a project and an afternoon of grocery shopping wasn't something he could allot a large chunk of his day to without having to steal some time somewhere else.  It was annoying and bothersome and he knew he wasn't required to even _do_ this...he'd paid the fine at the courthouse that morning and that was the end of it.  Agreeing to Amy's further demands was nothing more than a symbolic show of his willingness to let her punish him so she could feel better about the whole thing herself.

But the prospect of seeing Chloe again took the edge off his irritation.  Something about her tugged at his heart, but it wasn't the chair, it wasn't a sense of pity for her disability.  He wasn't sure what it was, but he didn't feel sorry for her beyond the fact that her sister was an overbearing sow with control issues.  She had a confident smile and a bright humor and an air of contentment that he found interesting...and maybe more than just a little bit endearing.

As he got into his car he looked back toward the apartment;  she had wheeled herself out onto the patio and was watering some pots, her mouth moving like she was talking, but when he rolled the window down to eavesdrop on what he assumed would be a conversation with her sister about him, he heard her singing instead.

It brought a quick smile to his face.

He took the grocery list out of his pocket and dropped it on the passenger seat as he started the car. _Maybe the dictator won't be there when I get back._

It was a cheering prospect and he found himself humming happily as he drove away.

 

 

"Chloe, I'm headed out now, you have everything you need for the day?"

"Yep."

Amy stopped in the doorway, watching her sister navigate the patio in her chair.  It always amazed her how the girl never bumped into anything, even on the crowded veranda where flower pots were everywhere, creating a sort of organic maze.   _Eight years is long enough to be a pro at anything,_ she thought bitterly.   _Too bad her skill has to be this._  

"Are you mad at me?"

Chloe shrugged, inspecting a seedling that had broken through the soil in one of the pots.  "A little bit.  It's not fatal though."

"You know he deserved it."

"Yeah...but did I?"

Her kneejerk response was to argue that it wasn't about _her,_ it was about the man's blatant disregard for both the law and the needs of others - but his words came back to her and she found her annoyance suddenly dropping into a vaguely unsettling sense of - what?

...shame?  

_You really should think about how you're making Chloe feel with your histrionics._

She hadn't thought about Chloe being embarrassed by her actions, but now that it was brought to her attention the thought of it made her angry with herself.  Nobody had ever called her out on it before and her shame was mixed heavily with a dose of righteous anger.  The shame was for her own behavior, the anger was for the jerk that had dared to look her straight in the face and tell her to cool it.

_Arrogant little asshole._

"Honey, you know I just want the best for you - "

"I know."  The girl smiled, finally looking up from her gardening.  "You can go, I'm fine."

Amy watched her for a moment longer, feeling suddenly sad that her pretty little sister was never going to have all the things that she had herself...a husband, a family, a career, a normal life.  Someone to love her unconditionally.  She'd been so smart, so talented, such a bright future ahead of her.  All taken away, so quick and pointless.

She turned and picked up her purse, leaving without another word.  Just one more would be all it would take to start her crying, and Chloe hated it when she cried.

 

 

Seven bags of groceries later, Chloe sat shaking her head, her face an embarrassed apology as she moved around the kitchen helping Tommy put things away.  "She really put you to work, didn't she?" she asked, eyeing a can of mushrooms.  "I don't even need half this stuff.  I don't _use_ this stuff.  What the hell was she thinking?"

He laughed, arranging some packages in the pantry.  "I figured as much.  It's okay, I'd rather she work off her anger and aggression composing an arbitrary shopping list than by taking a baseball bat to my headlights."

"I'm really surprised she didn't."

"Yes, she's quite formidable, isn't she?"  He looked back at her over his shoulder, watching with interest as she pulled herself to a standing position at the sink, reaching up to the cabinet above it.  She was a bit unsteady but he didn't make any move to help, unsure if it would be welcome or insulting;  she seemed to be doing well on her own so he averted his eyes, not wanting to embarrass her.

"She just wants the best for me."  The girl cringed as she sat back down, realizing she was repeating the exact thing Amy always told her to explain away her own actions.   _I've got to stop enabling her,_ she chastised herself silently. _I'll be a crippled five year old forever if she has her way._

"Well...that's everything."  Tommy turned to smile at her, shutting the pantry behind him.  "Do you need anything else while I'm here?"

"No, I'm good - thank you.  I'm really sorry you had to spend your day doing this."  She moved over to the table to get her wallet from her purse, but he stopped her.

"That's not necessary."

"I need to pay you for the groceries."

"Honestly, it's okay.  But..."  He looked a bit shy, his face scrunched up like he expected a negative reaction.  "Could I possibly ask a favor?  It's just that I've got this deadline and the wifi is down at my place, and the McDonalds lobby isn't really an adequate work environment.  Do you think I could set up here for a few hours?  I have all my stuff with me."

"Sure, go get it, I have really good wifi.  What do you do?"

The look on his face turned quickly to relief and he clapped his hands together.  "Beautiful, thank you.  I wouldn't ask if the deadline wasn't tonight, and it's a fairly important project - I'm a graphic artist, I do most of my work from home through the computer."

"And my sister just wasted your entire day.  I am _so_ sorry."

He shook his head, flashing her a sweet grin that lit his face, crinkling his eyes.  "Let me use your veranda and we'll call it even."

 

 

As he opened his laptop and arranged his papers in front of him, he stole a quick glance toward where the girl was moving from her chair to the sofa.  He wasn't sure, again, if he should offer to help or not;  she was obviously perfectly capable of doing it on her own and the fact that she lived alone told him he should just leave her to her own business, but he found it a little unnerving, watching her pull herself onto the couch using just her arms.  He didn't want to insult or embarrass her by asking if she needed help, but what if she really _did_ need help and was too shy to ask for it?

His dilemma was solved for him when she settled in, reaching down to pull her legs up onto the cushions.  He wanted to ask about the extent of her disability;  he'd seen her stand up in the kitchen, but she pulled her legs up onto the sofa with her hands and he assumed that meant she couldn't move them.  She was searching behind the throw pillows mumbling about where she'd left her book when she glanced up and saw him looking at her.

"You know, if your wifi is unreliable at home, you could use mine any time you want.  I have a T3 line - one of the perks of having a vengeful sister."

He sat back in his chair, chewing the end of a pen as he squinted at her.  "A T3?  Are you serious?  Okay now you have to explain that because it was cryptic and I'm curious."

She laughed, retrieving the lost book from behind an end cushion.  "One of her many demands when we were working out the terms of restitution from the guy that hit me.  He was drunk and on the clock for a big company, so as you can probably imagine, Amy was all over that."  She spun her finger around, indicating the room.  "This apartment was one demand, they had to set it up for my chair and lower the cabinets and sinks and stuff.  I'll never pay rent as long as I live here.  They caved to that pretty easily, so she started going for the small details then - the T3 was on her list.  Lifetime wifi at instantaneous speeds.  She didn't even really know what it was when she asked for it, she just knew it was expensive and she wanted them to pay."  She was grinning sarcastically, rolling her eyes at the memory of Amy's list.  She did love her lists.  "So, you know, just bring your stuff and set up whenever, I don't mind.  I'd enjoy the company, honestly."

Tommy nodded, arching an eyebrow in admiration for Amy's tenacity and determination.  A T3 line was exactly what he needed.  He was certain she wouldn't approve of him taking advantage of the fruits of her labor or Chloe's misfortune, but the knowledge that the apartment - _and_ the wifi - belonged to Chloe, not to Amy, made his mind up for him.  Besides, he was really beginning to like her, and an evil sister was a small obstacle to spending time in the company of such a pleasant girl.

_A pleasant girl with a T3._

"I just might do that," he said as he went back to his work, a warm smile lighting his face.  Chloe nodded, turning her attention to her book.

"Good.  You can eat some of those ridiculous groceries while you're here."

 

 

It was just going dark outside when he left, his project submitted - in time, just before the deadline - and he went through the apartment with her, closing windows and locking the doors for the night.  They'd talked a bit while he was working, and one comment she'd made kept coming back to him, nudging at the back of his mind.

"Were you really being serious when you said you haven't been out since your accident?"

She nodded, shrugging.  "Amy likes to keep me where she knows where I am.  If I'm not with her, I'm here.  I go places with her and her husband and kids, but that's about it."

"And how long has it been since it happened?"

"Eight years."

"Eight years is a long time to not go anywhere," he said quietly.  He wasn't sure if he felt sad or angry with this bit of information, but whichever it was, it was unsettling and he felt an overwhelming urge to do something about it.  While she was closing the sliding doors to the veranda, he took out his cellphone and sent a few quick texts.  The reply notification was just dinging when she came back.

"All closed up for the night.  Thanks for helping."

"Not a problem, thanks for the wifi."  He glanced at his phone, fidgeting a bit.

"You okay?  You look like your girlfriend just demanded to know why you're late."

"Uh, no, no girlfriend."  He laughed, looking down at his phone again.  "Actually, I was just confirming some tickets to a concert on Friday night."  He looked up at her, a hopeful expression in his bright blue eyes.  "Do you think you'd like to go with me?"

"You just now did that?"

"Um, yes."

"So, you got me a ticket before you asked me?"

"Yeah.  A bit backwards, I know.  I just - "

"I'd love to go."  She was staring at him intently, her brow furrowed in thought.  After a long moment in which he felt his heart sink at the prospect of her saying no, she finally gave a decisive nod.  "I would.  I've never been to a concert."

"Never?  Well that's just unacceptable."

"It is, isn't it?"  She scrunched her nose up, nodding, and Tommy knew right then that he wanted to spend more time with this girl.  There was something in the way she seemed to accept her situation without pitying herself that gave him strong feelings - strong, but confusing.  He didn't feel protective of her so much as he had the sudden desire to help her...but not helping in a _lending assistance_ sort of way.  She didn't really seem to need much of that.

No, this was something else entirely.  The thought of her stuck in her apartment with only her sister as a friend made him feel heartsick.   _She needs to experience life._ It was something he got the distinct impression she hadn't been allowed to do...but she wanted to, he could see it in her eyes.  There was a spark there that nothing had been able to extinguish, though he felt certain a few things had tried.

"Well okay then - Friday.  I'll come pick you up, I don't know what time yet so I'll call you, okay?"

She nodded, moving with him to the door.  She had no idea how she was going to arrange it, how he would deal with her chair and getting her into and out of his car - or how she would get the entire thing past her sister. _I'm twenty-five_   she chastised herself, annoyed that she still let Amy's approval or lack thereof determine what she did and didn't do. _I can do this if I want to._  It was an exciting prospect, going out, doing something with another person that wasn't her sister.  She tried to hide her excited smile behind her hand as Tommy turned to her with a smile of his own.

It was sweet and kind and honest and had nothing to do with sympathy or pity, and she found herself drawn to him, wondering what it would be like to have this boy's friendship.

_Guess I'll find out._

 

 

 

_To be continued..._


	3. Chapter 3

                             

 

 

 

"I took the back seat out."

"You what?"

Chloe stared blankly at Tommy's car, the old Camaro that had gotten him into trouble with her sister and led, somehow, to her sitting in the driveway on a Friday night while he moved the front passenger seat back.  She didn't know whether to call this a date or just a night out with a friend, but she was excited to be doing it, whatever it was.  And he seemed to be going to a lot of trouble to make sure she was comfortable.

"Yeah, I wasn't sure your chair would fit in my practically nonexistent trunk, so I pulled the back seat out."  He seemed proud of himself and she nodded her approval, trying not to laugh.  There was a pillow on the passenger seat that looked like it came from his bed and she wondered if she was meant to sit on it or if it had come from the now-missing back seat.   _He doesn't look like he lives in his car_ she thought with a giggle. _If he does, he's homeless now._

"Well I admire your determination to avoid strapping me to the top like Granny Clampett."

"The thought did cross my mind, along about the time I was trying to figure out what sort of wrench I needed to get that fucker out."  As soon as he'd said it he winced hard at his poorly chosen wording, but Chloe didn't seem to notice - there was a small chuckle from her, but he couldn't tell if it was that or if she was finding something funny about the pillow he'd brought for her.  The bucket seats in his car were frightfully uncomfortable and he didn't want that to be what she remembered about this night.  "I'm afraid my talents lie more along the lines of computer tech than vintage car repair."  He finished manually moving the seat and stood up to look at her expectantly.  "How do you usually do this?  Do I pick you up, or - "

"No need."  She was already wheeling herself close to the open door, lining her chair up with the passenger seat so she could shift herself in.  "My sister's husband has a bad back so I've always had to do it myself."

Tommy watched as she moved easily from her chair to the front seat, tucking her hands under her knees to pull her legs in;  while she situated herself he fiddled with her chair until he figured out how to collapse it, slipping it into the back before checking her seatbelt and shutting her door.  He turned to look at her as he started the car and she smiled excitedly at him, like a little girl going to her first party, all wide eyes and happy anticipation - and the realization struck him that he had no idea what he was going to end up having to do for her to make this work.  But the little stab of worry lasted only a moment before he decided he would just sort it out as it came at him.  Thus far the only thing he'd figured out ahead of time was that the back seat would have to come out.

But Chloe was grinning giddily at him, and he felt a bit euphoric himself because of it.

_Maybe she won't be able to tell I'm making this up as I go._

And even if she did...he doubted she would call him out on it.

 

 

The handicapped mezzanine was nice, with an excellent view of the stage from above, lots of room - and, with the exception of the two of them, completely empty.  Tommy watched Chloe's face during the first half of the show, noticing how often her eyes moved from the stage to the audience, the way she clapped excitedly when everyone cheered or danced or jumped or sang along, obviously longing for the experience of being _in_ the crowd instead of watching from so far above it.  A sick sort of sadness came over him as he watched her, and after a while he leaned over, putting his mouth near her ear so she could hear him over the music.

"Do you want to go down to general admission?"

Her eyes lit up with a pure, unfiltered joy, a sudden happiness that just as quickly flickered out again.  "Naw - I'd be in the way, everyone would fall over me."  She patted the arms of her chair, then crossed her hands in her lap, flashing him an _It's okay_ smile that obviously hid something far less joyful.  Tommy thought hard for a moment, wanting to see that look of excitement come back to her eyes, frantically trying to figure out a way to make it happen.

"No they won't," he finally said with determination as he got out of his seat, kneeling down in front of her with his back to her.  "Come on."  He looked back at her over his shoulder and cocked his head when she didn't respond.  "Climb on."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really.  Get on."

She leaned forward and looped her arms around his neck, holding on while he leaned forward to ease her onto his back.  Hooking his arms under her legs, he brought them up around his waist and bounced her a little to position her correctly.  "Hold on tight, okay?  You got this?"

She was laughing when she answered him, a little bit nervous, a lot excited, and so giddily happy that she hugged his neck tight enough to choke him.

"Yep, I got this."

 

 

He carried her down to general admission on his back, weaving through the crowd until they were a few yards from the stage.  "Is it too crowded for you?" he asked, yelling so she could hear him over the noise of the music and the crowd.

"No!  It's awesome!"

He smiled - the excitement was back in her eyes and she looked happy, _genuinely_ happy.  The noise and the crowd and the nearness of the music had her laughing, and he bounced her on his back, swaying with her so she could feel like she was dancing.

 

 

Half an hour into their trip downstairs, a huge bearded man bumped into them as he was rowdily throwing his arms up to yell in between songs;  he grabbed Chloe's shoulder to steady them and apologized, asking if she was okay.

"I'm great!" she yelled over the noise.  "I'm having fun!"

He nodded with a big grin and yelled back "Me too!" as his girlfriend said something to him, her voice lost to everyone but him in the loud roar of the crowd.  His eyes instantly went down to Chloe's legs and a look of understanding came across his face.  He tapped Tommy on the shoulder.  "You need a break, mister?  I'll be happy to hold your girl while you stretch your back a bit."  He gestured to his girlfriend next to him to indicate that he didn't have any untoward intentions about running off with her;  the woman nodded, waving to them from his other side.  Tommy waved back and shook his head, hefting Chloe up a little.  He was strong and had good endurance, but his back _was_ beginning to ache a bit.

"Naw, I'm good.  She's a feather."

The man's companion leaned in, yelling so they could hear her.  "Let him, he's strong as an ox.  He carried me on his shoulders for an entire day at Sturgis last summer."  The man was nodding proudly and bent down next to Tommy, patting the back of his neck, not intending to take no for an answer.

"Climb on Sunflower!"

Chloe reached across without hesitation and held onto his neck while Tommy transferred her over to the other man's back, stretching his arms once she was switched.  "Thanks, I appreciate it.  I'll take her back in a minute."

"No hurry.  You're not kidding, she's a damn feather!"  He bounced her a little, hooting when she laughed.  "You wanna go closer?"

Chloe yelled _yes!_ into his ear and he hefted her up so she could see better, pushing his way through the crowd with his girlfriend and Tommy behind him.  The crowd parted for him - he was huge, and Chloe looked back at Tommy as they made their way to the front of the stage, her face beaming.  She'd never had more fun in her life.

 

 

Later in the night Chloe shyly told Tommy she needed to go to the bathroom and he carried her out into the corridor, wandering around until they finally saw the restroom signs.  They'd ended up on the far side of the arena from the handicapped section where her chair was, and suddenly the mechanics of getting her into the bathroom became a bit daunting.  There was a constant stream of women coming and going from the ladies room, and he immediately regretted not giving as much thought to this as he had to removal of the back seat.

"Shit, I don't think I can take you in there Chloe.  What should we do?"

The big bearded man they'd met on the floor came threading through the crowd and saw them, his hand shooting up to wave as he made his way toward them.  "You guys doing okay?  Still having fun?"

"Yes!" Chloe said enthusiastically.  "But I need to pee and he's too much a gentleman to go in the ladies room with me."

"Well honey I'm no gentleman, I'd take ya but I might get arrested.  You want me to go get my ladyfriend?"

Tommy quickly objected, turning to rest Chloe's back against the wall and take some of her weight off her hips where she had her legs hooked around him.  "No, that's okay, thanks - her chair is up in the mezzanine, we'll just go get it - "

The man scowled at him.  "Don't go hiking all the way back up there, just take her on in.  Nobody's gonna say anything."

"I think there's a lot of women in there, actually."

"Okay, easily solved."

Stomping over to the men's room and kicking the door open, he leaned in and whistled so loud half the people in the corridor and everyone in the bathroom spun around to look at him.  "Everybody out, toilet's closed for cleaning.  Zip it and clear out, _move it let's go people!"_    He clapped his hands to rush them, holding the door open as a stream of grumbling males filed out past him.  Tommy tried not to meet eyes with anyone, but Chloe waved cheerfully at the few who looked at them on their way out.

When the last straggler had been rushed out, he made an exaggerated sweeping gesture to usher Tommy and Chloe inside.  "All yours.  Can't guarantee how tidy it is, but it should do.  I'll stand guard for ya."

Tommy grimaced, but couldn't help laughing a little at the situation.  "You cool with this?"

"At this point it doesn't matter to me which picture is on the door, I just really need to go."

"Yeah..."  A resigned sigh slipped from his lips.  "Okay then."

 

As soon as they had stepped inside Chloe started giggling;  he looked around to see that she was pointing at a urinal.  "Please don't make me use one of those."

"Why not?  They're really convenient."

"They look like sideways sinks.  I don't want to pee in a sideways sink."

"Yeah but how easy would it be, I mean I could just turn around and back you up in front of one - "

"Oh god no!"

They were both laughing now and he wasn't sure if he was more impressed with her unceasingly cheerful attitude or her bravery at using the men's room in a public venue, but either way, their new friend was sticking his head in the door to see what all the laughter was about.  A quick glance at them snickering by the urinals and he rolled his eyes, ducking back out.

_I'm standing in a public men's room at an 80's rock revival concert with a giggling girl on my back and a biker guarding the door...and none of this seems the slightest bit weird._

"Chloe girl, I think I have to say that this is probably the most ludicrous thing I've ever done."

She squeezed his neck as he pushed the door to the handicapped stall open and stepped inside.

 

He was buckling her into his car after the show when her phone rang - Amy, checking in, completely unaware that her sister wasn't at home reading or watching TV like she'd left her.  Chloe leaned far over toward the driver's seat so that Amy wouldn't hear the noise of the dispersing crowd in the parking lot, a mistake she would never be able to explain away;  as Tommy got in she motioned for him to be quiet with a quick finger to her lips.

He shut his door as softly as he could, finding himself suddenly edged up under Chloe's head as she shielded the phone from outside noise.

_Oh fuck._

Something about her laying across the divide between the two seats, her face just inches from his thigh, gave him a sudden head full of impure thoughts and his first reaction was to put his hand on the back of her neck, pushing his fingers through her hair to grip a handful of her soft blonde tresses.  His eyes had just drifted shut when he realized he was getting mildly aroused.

 _What are you doing??_    _Fuck Tommy, don't be an idiot, stop thinking about her that way._

He let go quickly and she sat up, ending the call, giving him a funny look as she dropped the phone in her lap.

"Sorry."

"What for?"  There was a look of mild confusion on her face and he felt a rush of relief that she hadn't noticed his reaction to her closeness.

"Nothing, I just - "  Her head was cocked slightly to one side, her face a mask of complete innocence as she listened, and in that moment he thought he'd never seen a cuter girl in his life.  His mouth rushed ahead without his brain and he blurted out,  "I really want to kiss you right now."

A quick grin replaced the innocent look, though it held a definite sort of innocence of its own that set a battle raging in his head.   _She's too good for you.  Too pure.  Too perfect.  Just don't._

"You can.  I wouldn't stop you."

"Yeah?"

She nodded happily.  "Yeah."

The battle was instantly lost, but he kept his head about him.  Leaning across the shifter, he let it jab him in the stomach to keep him from getting too caught up in the moment, an uncomfortable reminder that there was a frighteningly vindictive older sister lurking on the other side of whatever scenario was about to play out.   _Amy would murder me if I got carried away,_ he reminded himself.   _My car would end up in the bay with smashed headlights and my body in the trunk, and everybody would wonder where the hell the back seat went._

_Nope.  Fuck off, Amy._

He cleared his head of her as their lips touched, just a brief, soft contact for a few seconds before they both closed their eyes and let the moment drown everything else out - the other concert goers moving past the car to their own vehicles, the PA system making announcements in between blasts of prerecorded music, and soon their own breathing as Chloe relaxed and Tommy slipped his arms around her back, scooting closer, ignoring the sharp jab of the shifter knob hitting him in the hip.

His lips had just kissed warmly across her cheek to her ear when she reached across the space between them to his lap, not even thinking about what she was doing until she'd done it.  Her hand pressed against the front of his jeans, feeling the solid bulge of him;  it was thick and hard under her palm and the heat coming off him made her gasp.  He quickly put his hand over hers and stopped her.

"Oh - _god,_ I'm sorry," she said quickly, humiliation bringing a quick burn to her cheeks.  "I'm so sorry.  I don't know why I did that - "

He smiled, laughing a little, obviously embarrassed.  "It's okay, really.  I just...wasn't expecting it."

She pulled her hand away, her face feeling suddenly so hot that it made her dizzy.  "I'm... _oh god."_ She covered her eyes with her hands, too mortified to say anything else, not trusting her voice to even try. Tommy laughed again, a gentle sound that told her he wasn't mad.

"It's really okay Chloe."  He looked at her for a second, then stared at his lap, unsure what to do.  "Let's get something to eat, I'm starved."

Chloe nodded quickly, turning to the window, wanting to look anywhere except at him.

 

 

_To be continued..._

 


	4. Chapter 4

                                 

 

 

He'd kissed her one more time that night, a soft, sweet, gentle brush of his lips against hers after he had gotten her settled back into her apartment.  He felt the need to leave quickly, that bothersome tension in the pit of his stomach still fluttering just enough to send sirens blaring in his head, telling him without any doubt that if he stayed too long he wouldn't be going anywhere till morning.

He couldn't do that to her.

It was far too soon;  if it happened at all, he didn't want it to be while she was still giddy from a night out of her gilded cage and possibly feeling grateful, a misguided sense of wanting to repay him for the experience leading her to accept his attentions.  She was far too innocent for him to risk that, he could tell by the simple fact that she'd been so embarrassed about touching him.

He had to be sure she _wanted_   him.

And so he had gone through her apartment checking all the doors and windows, politely turning down her offer of coffee on the pretense of being too tired after his long day and the concert, then knelt in front of her and asked politely if he could kiss her goodnight.  The look on her face told him she was still upset over what had happened in the car, but they had put it behind them enough to eat a late dinner and chat for a while after, so he felt reasonably confident she could make an informed decision concerning a goodnight kiss.

When she said yes with that sweet little smile and her arms came up to rest on his shoulders as he leaned in, he felt the fluttering stir into something more intense.  His mind flew back to the parking lot at the arena, the sudden surprising feel of her hand in his lap, pressing against him.  He had thought at first it was an accident, but she had _pushed_ her palm to the front of his jeans.  And then her embarrassed apology, the way her eyes had gone wide in shock at what she'd done.

If there was one thing he knew, it was that girls didn't just touch a guy that way unless they wanted to.

And so the goodnight kiss was quick, and he excused himself hurriedly with a reminder that he had to be up early.  He knew she didn't understand...his abrupt departure was most likely a blow to her feelings and he had no doubt she would probably shed a tear or two over it once he was gone.

But she had enjoyed herself so much that night, he hoped she would fall asleep happy with the memory of being in the middle of things, instead of sitting off to the side, just watching.

 

Chloe got into bed as soon as Tommy left, rubbing her lips where he'd kissed her, wishing it had been a longer kiss - like the one in the car, when his arms had gone around her and he'd opened his mouth so she could feel his tongue against hers.  It was strange and exciting and unnerving and _wet_...and it had made her feel warm in her stomach, like if she had pressed her hand to her belly she would have felt the heat against her palm.  But somehow, instead of her own, she had reached for his.

It was embarrassing and exhilarating and she couldn't stop thinking about it.

A heated blush crept across her cheeks when she remembered how solid he had felt through the front of his jeans when she'd laid her hand on him.  She'd never been that close to a man before, other than her physical therapist and various random doctors - and she certainly wasn't in the habit of grabbing their crotches.  The bulge against her hand was a surprise and his hardness had shocked her.  She closed her eyes and allowed herself to fantasize about it for a brief moment...Tommy pushing against her, his solid heat pressing between her legs...her fingers itched to feel him again, the flush in her cheeks growing hotter when she recalled how thick and solid it felt.

After a while she realized she was biting the sheet, her face wet with tears.  Amy had made sure she realized anything resembling a romantic relationship wasn't ever going to happen for her, to keep her from being disappointed when it _didn't_ happen, she supposed - to the point where she believed it.  No man was going to want to sleep with a crippled girl who couldn't move anything below her waist.  Why would he?  There was no reason for Tommy to want to touch her like that...and he couldn't possibly want a serious relationship with her.  She was too much work, too much responsibility. 

But now...she wasn't so sure. He had gotten hard for her, hadn't he?  That meant he'd wanted her - ?  Or was it just a random reaction to something that had nothing to do with her?  She wasn't really sure what had happened but it was obvious, she realized with a hard swallow, that he hadn't wanted it to go any further.  Maybe he hadn't actually  _wanted_ her, maybe it had just been an accident, a guy thing.

But she had loved the way it felt against her hand, for the brief moment that he allowed her to feel it.

 

 

"What's this?"

Amy's head was poking out from the laundry room off the kitchen, her face a suspicious scowl, waving a crumpled up piece of paper in her hand.  Chloe glanced over just long enough to see what she was holding, then went back to her lunch, unconcerned.

"My ticket from the concert the other night."

 _"What_ concert?"

"The one Tommy took me to."

"Tommy?!"  Her hand went to her hip indignantly and she stood staring at Chloe, the scowl turning swiftly into outright shock and anger.  "Tommy as in the guy with the handicapped parking violations?"

"That would be the one."

Her mouth fell open.  "So you're going out with him now?  Why wasn't I told about this?"

"Because I'm twenty-five years old, I'm not a little kid, and I can accept invitations that don't involve you."

"Since when?!"

"Since always.  But specifically since Friday."

"Well...I...there's..."  Amy was stammering, trying to formulate a coherent sentence around her outrage.  She finally slammed the door to the laundry room and blurted out, "I don't think you should see him again!"

"Okay.  You can think that, that's fine."

"What?"

"You can think I shouldn't see him again, I'm cool with that.  Doesn't mean I'm not going to though."  She turned her chair and wheeled herself out of the kitchen without another word, leaving her sister standing there, staring after her with the ticket in her hand.

 

 

Tommy called her every evening for the next three nights, finally showing up at her door on Wednesday with his computer and a spray of daisies that he handed to her with a bright smile and a quick kiss on the cheek, close to her lips but not quite touching them.  It made her feel warm inside and she watched him once he'd gotten settled, peeking out at him on the veranda as she read her book on the couch, noticing how he stopped working every few minutes to lean back in his chair and turn his face up to the sun.  He would close his eyes and a little smile would come to his face, and in that moment she thought he looked like a black haired angel recharging from its natural power source.

The thought made her giggle out loud and he turned to look at her, one eye shut, the other squinting at her.

"What are you reading?"

"You, mostly."

"Oh yeah?"  He scooted his chair around to face her and leaned back.  "How's my characterization and plot advancement?  And more importantly, do I have a happy ending?"  He sat there grinning at her till she laughed, a warm heat coming to her face under the scrutiny of those bright blue eyes.

"Characterization is really good.  Interesting and absorbing."

 _"Absorbing._  Hmm."

"Plot advancement is a little slow, but it's still the very beginning, I'll give it time."

"Oh good."

"I don't know about the ending yet - if this is fanfiction, there's probably going to be a lot of angst and drama before we get there, but odds are good it'll end well."

"Fanfiction?"  His grin widened.  "Huh.  Based on what?"

"I dunno...but it's likely an AU with a hybrid and an OFC.  But they could end up being an OTP if they do things right."

He sat staring at her, a look of incredulity making him appear both amused and confused at the same time.  "I'm afraid I don't know what any of those things mean, but it sounds like it might be...interesting."

It was her turn to stare at him, till finally she had to look away.  The softness in his eyes was making her ache and all she could think about was the way he had gently put his hand over hers, stopping her without humiliating her or judging her.  She swallowed hard and kept her eyes on her fingers, fidgeting nervously in her lap.  "I'm sorry about the other night.  I don't know what I was thinking.  That was...not like me."

He didn't speak for a long moment, but she could feel his gaze on her.  "I'm not really sure what to say, Chloe.  I hate that you feel bad about it, I mean it was no big deal, really.  It's not like I felt violated."  He laughed, hoping she would join in, but she didn't.  She only sat there, finally looking at him again, her chin jutted slightly in a pout that he suddenly, desperately wanted to kiss away.  "Chloe, please."

"You stopped kissing me."

"Well...yes.  I mean, if I'd continued, we might have - "  He stopped talking, a sheepish look coming across his face as he waited for her to figure it out on her own.

"We might have what?"

_Shit._

"I might have slept with you."

Her eyes were wide as she stared at him, a  look of mild hurt furrowing her brow.  "Would that have been such a bad thing?"

"No, Chloe - it wouldn't be a bad thing at all, aside from the simple fact that we barely know each other and I didn't want to take advantage of you.  I'm not like that, and...well..."  He searched desperately for the right words, knowing he needed to tiptoe carefully to keep from scaring her off or hurting her feelings.  Either option was the absolute last thing he wanted to do, so he went with gentle honesty.  "I wanted you, so I felt it best to just put on the brakes right then before it got out of hand."

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise.  "You wanted me?"

"Yes, I did."

The surprise turned into dismay and she chewed her lip nervously, looking as if she was about to cry.  "What if I wanted you too?"

He sighed, running both hands through his hair as he puffed his cheeks out, looking around the veranda to avoid her eyes.  "Are you sure that's something you could decide after only knowing me for a week?"

"Tommy, I've been stuck in that chair for eight years," she began, her voice trembling.  "I'm twenty-five years old.  These are the years that I'm supposed to be spending making stupid mistakes and having fun, but my life didn't quite turn out that way and instead of running around being a bad girl, I sit here reading and thinking and dreaming about stuff that I wish could happen for me.  Stuff that probably won't ever happen.  I've probably thought about you more in the last week than regular people think about other people in a whole year.  So a week is plenty of time for me to make an informed decision."

A wide grin was spreading across his face;  both her tone and volume had increased as she spoke and he could tell this was a discussion she'd already had with herself.  He wanted to correct her on referring to other people as _regular,_ implying that she was abnormal in some way...but she had covered her face with her hands and for a dreadful moment he thought she might be crying.  He started toward her, stopping a few feet from the sofa when she suddenly moved her hands and looked straight at him.

"Would you kiss me again?"

It took him a while to realize his mouth was open and he wasn't blinking.  "Umm..."  Scrambling for a reason - and a way - to say no, he found he couldn't come up with a single one.  "Do you want me to?"

"Yes," she answered quickly, without hesitation.  There was a determination in her voice, but it broke just then and something like fear flitted across her face, for just one quick moment.  "Do _you_ want to?"

He nodded, his own determination suddenly not quite strong enough to continue searching for reasons to turn her down.

"Very much."

 

His kisses were warm and tender and unfailingly patient as he crouched on his knees in front of her, never complaining about her own knees banging into his hipbones or poking him in the stomach as he moved closer;  after a while he realized at some point he'd moved in between them and had pulled her toward him so that they were flush up against each other.  Her lips were so soft he felt like he was devouring them, but the only sounds from her were little whimpering moans of pleasure and nothing to indicate discomfort.

"Can I pick you up and hold you in my lap?" he finally asked, a shy hopefulness finding its way into his whispered request.  She nodded, reaching up to hold onto his neck like a child, but he pulled her arms gently away.  "I'm going to use the restroom first.  I'll be right back."

While he was out of the room she made up her mind.  It was him.  It was only ever going to be him, and she knew it, without any doubt to tell her otherwise.  When she heard him coming back, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, slipping her arms out of the sleeves of her top and tugging it off over her head.  She heard his footsteps enter the room and stop, then his voice, gentle and questioning.

"Chloe..."

When she opened her eyes she saw him, standing in the doorway, frozen there with his eyes on her face.  His expression was so kind, so loving and gentle, that she felt a rush of boldness and decided it was time.  She wanted to share herself with him. _He is the one._ Reaching behind her back, she unfastened the hooks of her bra and slipped it off her shoulders.  Her eyes were closed tight and she was holding her breath, but her back was straight and she realized, amazingly, that she wasn't shaking.

_"Chloe..."_

She let her breath out slowly;  she knew what his next words would be. _What do you think you're you doing, silly?_    But it was her sister's voice she heard in her head, not his, and when he spoke again his words were very different than what she expected.

"You're so beautiful."

In the brief moment of a heartbeat he had crossed the room and bent over her, slipping one arm around her back and the other under her knees to lift her gently from the couch.  Her arms went around his neck as he carried her to her bedroom, laying her down gently on the bed and pulling the blanket up to cover her as he lay down next to her, stretching out and scooting in close to her side.

When she opened her eyes, his face was next to hers, a soft smile lighting his eyes as he touched her cheek with one fingertip.

"You're not mad at me?" she whispered.

"Why would I be mad?"  He was still smiling, obviously already aware of the answer but wanting her to hear herself say it.  "What did you do that could possibly make me angry with you?"

"I dunno...I'm just...clumsy with...this stuff."  She turned her face up to his, her eyes wide with an innocence that he could tell she wanted to lose.  "I don't know how to go about any of it and I feel like I keep doing the wrong things."

His smile widened and he pressed his forehead to hers, waiting a long while to think out his reply.  "The way I see it, you've done everything right.  I'm the one who's making mistakes."

"Are you scared of Amy?"

"No.  I'm scared of you."

 _"Me?_  Why?"

"You're so pure and perfect and I'm nervous that I'll do something wrong.  Which is why I'm taking my time and giving _you_ time to decide if you really want to do this with me."

She turned her upper body toward him.  "Perfect...?"

He nodded, reaching down to her hip to gently turn her legs.  "Perfect."

A hesitant smile inched across her lips as she looked up at him.  There was a complete trust in her eyes that stabbed at his heart as she whispered, "You won't do anything wrong."

A sudden need to tell her what he was really afraid of overcame him then as he looked into those eyes, saw that trust, and knew that _this girl_...she was something special, something he would probably never find again if he walked away.  Someone he couldn't just sleep with for fun.  She deserved the absolute truth.  "Chloe," he began, quietly, stroking her hair back from her forehead, realizing he enjoyed the way her name sounded on his tongue.  "My head works with details.  While you might be thinking about kissing me, I'm thinking about the mechanics of working around your chair and where to put my hands and how likely the odds are of your sister bursting in with a baseball bat just as my lips reach yours."  He laughed a little at how close to accurate his description truly was.  "And if it goes further than a kiss, there's so much more for me to think about before I can commit to it."

She looked confused for a moment, then her eyes glossed up with tears and she blinked hard to keep them back.  "You're afraid you'll hurt me."

"Yes, I am."  He kissed her head, shushing her for a moment as she began to protest.  "Listen to me, Chloe.  Sex is a difficult thing to navigate in the best of circumstances.  I don't know enough about your condition to feel comfortable even initiating it.  There are so many things I don't know - can you take my weight, will I hurt your back if I get on top of you, how much can you move or handle being moved, could I possibly injure you...I don't know the answers to any of that yet and when it crosses my mind, no matter how badly I might want it, my head goes straight to those questions first."

She nodded, understanding.  She hadn't thought about any of that, and it hurt to hear him say it.  She'd been right in her assumption - she was too much responsibility for anyone to want to take on.  She was still nodding her agreement when he took her face in his hands and made her look at him again.

"Do you really want to do this, Chloe?"  His voice was barely a whisper, caressing over her.  She nodded again, a sudden excitement rushing through her, biting her lip to stop it from quivering.  Maybe he wasn't going to write her off as too difficult after all...

"I do."

"You're absolutely certain you want to?  With me?"

She chewed her lip, but didn't hesitate to nod, following the gesture with a very quiet _Yes._

He sighed, pressing his lips to her forehead, lowering his voice to almost a whisper.  "I don't have any protection, sweetheart.  I could run down the street and get some, but I don't want to leave you...maybe we should just...cuddle, for now?"  He gave her a hopeful look, moving his face away so he could see her reaction.  "Would that be okay with you?"

Something like relief came over her and she nodded quickly - it seemed to be all she could do, nodding.  It felt safer and easier than trying to speak with her emotions racing back and forth like they were.  Pulling the blanket up to cover them both, Tommy wrapped his arms around her, pulling her up against his chest as she relaxed and let him move her.  He was going to ask if she wanted to put her shirt back on but decided against it;  she felt so good, pressed up against him, her soft breasts pushing into him.  If she felt uncomfortable about being half naked with him she would say something, or he would pick up on her body signals.  Until then he would just mind his manners, control himself and behave, regardless of how badly he wanted to touch her, to duck his head down and suck at her sweet little pink nipples, to feel them stiffen against his tongue.   _Knock it off, Stark.  She's not ready for that._

_And neither are you, to be honest._

She had turned her face up to his, her eyes open, focused intently on him...he could feel her trembling and realized with a little bit of surprise that his own hands were shaking as he slid them slowly up and down her back.  She arched her chest against him and a groan escaped his throat, mingling softly with the one that came from her.

Without thinking, he tugged his shirt off over his head and tossed it to the end of the bed.

"Chloe..."

"Mmm?"  She was suddenly returning his kisses, her eyes closed tight, her hands sliding up his bare chest, hesitantly at first and then more boldly as she became accustomed to the feel of him.  It set his skin alight with a tingling nervousness that felt both good and discomfiting, but he forced himself to stay alert in the moment - _keep your head, and more importantly, keep it in your pants._

His voice, or more specifically his words, gave him a jolt of shock when he heard himself speak.  They weren't the words he'd intended to say.

"May I...touch you?"

She nodded, eyes still shut tightly as he pressed soft kisses to them, one hand coming around to cup her breast.  It was warm in his palm, her soft nipple stiffening against his touch.   _Behave, Tommy...she's innocent, don't do anything to change that status._  A look of almost pained pleasure came across her face and her mouth opened, but there was no sound as he lowered his head and kissed slowly down her throat, squeezing her breast gently until his lips reached the soft upper curve and he touched her skin, just briefly, with the tip of his tongue.

Chloe gasped, her hands clenching his shoulders tightly.

"Is this alright?" he whispered.

"Uh huh...I..."  Her breath caught in her throat as his thumb moved lightly across her nipple, rubbing it gently into arousal.   _"Oh...god...Tommy..."_

Her reaction elicited a strong response in his own body - but he held back, reminding himself that there could be nothing more than this tonight.  He watched her face for a moment, enjoying the sheer bliss that he saw playing there as his thumb brought new sensations to her nervous system.  It was addicting.  He had no idea how much her body was capable of experiencing, if certain parts were more sensitive to make up for the loss of sensation in other areas, but he was curious, and she seemed to be enjoying his touch.

"May I kiss your breast, Chloe?"

She sucked in her breath, chewing viciously at her lip until he nudged his own lips against her mouth, stopping her.  Her hands came up to tangle in his hair and she pulled, hard.

_"Yes."_

Without hesitation he lowered his head again and pressed light kisses around the soft undercurve of her breast, working his way up slowly till his breath teased her nipple.  He listened to her labored breathing for a moment, looking up to watch her face as he very softly touched his lips to the sensitive pink nub.  A tortured moan escaped her throat and he pressed his mouth fully to her, taking her nipple between his lips and giving it a suck.  Her arms instantly went over her head, grabbing the headboard rails.

Her eagerness to accept his touch, coupled with the intense pleasure that his hands and mouth were obviously bringing her, made him determined to help her experience as much as her body would allow.  He kept his hands above the waist of her jeans, never allowing them to stray lower, drawing away from her briefly any time her own hands wandered too low down his belly.  "Chloe, behave," he admonished her, bringing a stinging flush to her cheeks at first, but finally causing her to giggle as his voice grew playfully stern.

Eventually he eased her onto her back and turned his full attention to kissing and caressing every exposed inch of her till she was panting and sobbing with desire, not knowing what to do with the intense, unfamiliar feelings his mouth and hands dragged out of her, finally letting a strangled cry rip from her throat as her chest heaved and her nervous system went alight with a deep, pulsing pleasure from somewhere further below than she expected.  He wasn't even touching her there...how could...?

He was sucking at her nipple, his fingers rubbing and stroking the other when he felt the tension tighten in her belly, followed by a release that made her tremble and her breath stutter over her lips.  He hadn't touched her past her bellybutton and he knew she couldn't move from her hips down, so she hadn't rubbed against her jeans...he let go of her nipple, kissing it tenderly as a grin of realization spread across his face.  He'd brought a girl to orgasm before without intercourse, but not without a little help from her hips pushing against him.  Chloe's body was far more responsive than he'd expected.

Kissing his way back up her chest to her chin, he nuzzled her gently, sliding an arm under her so he could hold her close.  "Was that your first orgasm?"

She giggled, covering her face with her hands.  He didn't pull them away, letting her have her moment of shy embarrassment, waiting for her to let him look at her again without interfering.  "Is that what that was?"

"It looked like it to me."  He kissed along her jawline, nudging his nose against her ear.  "Did it feel better and better until suddenly it felt _really_ good, then you felt like you slowly dropped back to earth?"

"Oh god."  She was nodding enthusiastically.   _"Yes."_

"Then yep."  He took a moment to enjoy the sweet pink flush in her cheeks and chest, the delighted smile that she kept trying to hide behind her hands.  When she finally uncovered her face he tapped her chin, urging her to look at him, his curiosity getting the better of him.  "You've never pleasured yourself?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I wasn't even eighteen yet when I had my accident," she said quietly, her breathing finally beginning to slow enough for her to speak without panting.  "I had this stupidly romantic idea that I was supposed to leave all that stuff to my future husband - old fashioned, I know.  Silly.  But then the accident happened and the way everything felt from my hips down...changed."  Her smile faded a little, but Tommy kept silent.  "I wasn't sure anything...you know... _worked,_ like it was supposed to.  So I never bothered to try, because I was afraid nothing would happen and I didn't want to be disappointed."

He waited a bit before he spoke, an incomprehensible sadness tugging at his heart as he thought about her words.  "But something did happen, Chloe.  You came, I felt it, I saw it."  He stifled a laugh.  "Your ears turned red."

"I know."  The embarrassed little smile came back again and he felt himself grinning at her, unable to stop himself.

"Did it feel like you hoped it would?"

She nodded, sighing deeply, with a contentment that made his stomach feel fluttery again.  "It was better than that."

 

He got up later, after she'd fallen asleep, slipping quietly into the bathroom for a quick shower.  He had thought he might relieve himself while he was in there, but all he could keep thinking about was Chloe's contented sigh and the way she'd fallen asleep in his arms, trusting him completely, never doubting for a moment that she'd be safe with him.

Turning the water on as cold as it would go, he stood under the icy spray until his own fiercely burning need faded away.

 

 

_To be continued..._

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

 

 

 

Chloe woke slowly the next morning, Tommy's hand on her hip the first thing that she became aware of.  The sensation of the weight of his fingers was strange but she didn't want him to move them, so she lay still, feeling warm and content with his front spooned up against her back.

 _Oh my god...I slept with him.  He's still here.  It was real._ She realized with a gasp that she was naked from the waist up and his other arm was under her neck, supporting her head.   _He stayed...we cuddled and kissed and he stayed with me and..._

A warm flush crept across her cheeks when she remembered the rest.

_Oh my god..._

She brought one hand up slowly to her chest, pressing it lightly over her breast.  There was a tingle deep in her belly as she recalled what he'd done, how he'd brought such intense pleasure out of her body just by touching and kissing her.  She'd had no idea parts of her were so sensitive.

A quiet moan from behind her made her freeze.

"Mmm.  Good morning."  She felt Tommy's warm lips press a kiss behind her ear, then the deep exhale of his breath as he stirred a bit.  "How are you feeling?"

Snuggling back against him, Chloe smiled when he reached down and brought her legs back so that her body was straight.  "I'm good," she said, starting to giggle even though she was trying hard not to.  He laughed against her ear, bringing his arm up around her chest.

"Are you ticklish?"

"No...I mean yes...but it's not that.  I just feel so good."

"Mmm.  Good."

She lay there in his arms for a moment, not saying anything, just listening to his breathing next to her ear when he suddenly shifted a little, putting a few inches between them.  "Sorry."

"For what?"

"Um...oh, I...I guess you can't feel that."

Not understanding, she turned her head to get a peek at his face, her natural sense of curiosity overriding the perception that normally would have told her he was hesitant about something.  "Feel what?"  He tightened his arms around her, laughing a bit nervously as he nuzzled his mouth against her temple.

"It's, um, against the back of your thigh, I guess that's below the point where you don't have much sensation?"

It took her a minute, but she finally figured out what he was talking about.   _Oh my god he's got an erection and I just made him tell me about it._  An embarrassed heat crept up her cheeks but it was too late to pretend she didn't know what was going on - but she was determined to be an adult about it.   Twisting in his arms, she tried to turn to face him, pushing his hand to her hip to let him know she wanted him to help her.   "Can I...you know, help you...take care of it?"  She honestly wasn't sure what her offer would entail but she felt confident that Tommy would know what to do and guide her, if he felt the need.  He reached down again and gently turned her hips, bringing her legs around so that she was turned completely facing him.

His eyes were sleepy once she could finally see his face, his sweet grin giving her an impulsive urge to kiss him on the chin.  The dark stubble across his cheeks was scratchy and she rubbed her face against it, loving the way it felt against her skin, thinking happily that she could get used to this with little to no effort...but now she could feel his stiffness against her, pressed against the front of her jeans that had never come off the previous night.  "Amy would be proud of us at least," she said, stifling a giggle.  "We both managed to keep it in our pants all night."

Tommy groaned, rubbing one hand over his face.  "Oh god, let's not talk about Amy while we're laying in your bed together - there is no way in hell she would be proud of either of us right now."

"I don't care."

"Will she be coming in this morning?"

"No, it's a school day, she won't be here till four this afternoon."  Slipping her arms around his middle, Chloe snuggled into Tommy's chest.  "You can stay as long as you want."

"Mmmm.  Tempting."  He sighed, warm and comfortable, but the insidious ache in his groin kept dragging his attention southward and he knew Chloe didn't realize that she wasn't helping the situation by wriggling against him.  She was still topless, and though he had tucked the sheet around her during the night, it had tugged down while she was fidgeting to turn toward him, so that now they were barechested against each other. "Chloe, I think I should probably go have another shower - "

She looked up at him, her brow furrowed in confusion.  "Why?"

"Because - "

Before he could finish, she had reached down between them and pressed her fingers against the top button of his jeans.  Just the sensation of her touch, even though it wasn't against his skin, made him suck his breath in and he quickly reached down to stop her.  But instead of grabbing her hand, he gripped her hip, moving her just slightly away from him.  "Chloe, don't, baby."

"Can't I help you?  You did it for me last night...I want to do the same for you.  You could show me how."

"Chloe..."  He was shaking his head, his eyes shut tight against her innocently curious gaze.  "I can't..."

"Why?"

Still refusing to look at her, he realized he honestly couldn't come up with a valid reason not to let her.  He knew he could control himself enough not to do anything stupid or risky...he wanted so badly to touch her, to let _her_ touch _him,_ to watch her eyes flutter shut against the delicious agony of climax again and know that he was completely in control of how she felt, that he could give her something she'd never had before.  Her body had responded to him so beautifully, so unexpectedly...the urge to make it happen again was almost overwhelming.

And she wanted to do the same for him.

 _She wants to.  She asked.  She initiated it_.   _You said no...you're not coercing her into anything.  She wants to do this._

Her voice broke into his inner argument, barely a whisper, a sweet pleading that tore his resolve completely down.  "Can I?  Please Tommy?"

There was no more resisting her.  Tommy reached down between them, his fingers brushing gently over the back of her hand before moving under it to unbutton his jeans.  Chloe pushed the sheets and blanket down so she could see what he was doing, watching with anticipation as he opened his fly and reached inside, hearing him swallow hard as he pulled himself out.  He was stiff and fully erect, painfully so, already leaking and ready.

Her first impulse was to touch him, hesitantly at first, but he didn't stop her;  his eyes were on her face as she reached for him, trying hard not to let himself twitch when she ran her finger slowly down the top of his shaft.  "Oh my god," she whispered, a smile breaking across her face.  "It's so hard...and soft...can I - what do I do?"  He could see her becoming quickly fearless and before he could answer, she was touching the swollen head, sliding her hand over it.  Unable to control his body's reaction, he winced a bit as his cock jerked in response.

"It's okay," he reassured her when she quickly took her hand away.  "It didn't hurt, that's just what it does."

"Oh."  She giggled a little, reaching for him again, stopping just before she touched him.  "Would you show me what to do?  I want to...you know...make it happen for you.  I don't know how though."

He took her hand, closing her fingers around him, squeezing to show her how tight to hold him.  Pressing his lips to the top of her head, he sighed when she gripped him just right, a bit clumsily but it felt so damn good, skin to skin without anything between his cock and her hand.   _"Help me come, Chloe."_

 

 

It didn't take him long, even with Chloe's inconsistent grip and slow strokes;  he'd been half aroused for so long that it would only have taken a few thrusts against her hip to send him over the edge, and the feel of her little hand clenched around him was more than enough.  He was to the brink when he gripped her shoulders to center himself, forcing himself not to push against her for the final bit of stimulation that would take him over the edge.  She looked up at him, her eyes questioning, till she saw the raw need in his face and understood.

"Tell me what to do, Tommy."

He could barely speak, the words _"You're doing perfectly sweetheart"_   stuttering on his tongue as his body took over, responding blindly to its fierce need for release;  Chloe gripped a little harder, moving her hand a little faster, unsure if she was doing right until she felt him tense up and the muscles of his stomach tighten.  He was already so hard in her hand, but for a moment he grew even more solid, more heated and stiff, and a few short seconds later she felt his cock spasm as he released with a strangled moan.  She wasn't expecting the thick, hot liquid that spurted against her palm and quickly let go, gasping in surprise as it splashed across her bare stomach.

"Oh - _fuck,_ I'm sorry Chloe."

Tommy was panting hard, trying to catch his breath, not sure if Chloe was horrified or amused by what had just happened...her mouth was open and she was staring down at his still twitching cock, or maybe she was looking at the thick white stripes of his come as it slowly dribbled down her belly.  But she wasn't saying anything, and when she turned her face back up to him, she was smiling.

"Oh my god, Tommy!"  Her grin widened and she started to laugh, her eyes alight with what looked like pure joy - the same look he'd seen the night of the concert, when he'd handed her to the big biker to hold and he could finally see her face, happy and excited and so overwhelmingly _thrilled_ to be experiencing something new.

It was the same look she had right this moment, and he thought he'd never seen anything more beautiful in all his life.

 

 

He brought a warm wet washrag from the bathroom and cleaned her up, feeling a little bit embarrassed that he'd lost himself enough to go off in her hand that way.  He'd intended to stop her in plenty enough time to do it himself, controlling the mess, but it had felt so unbelievably good that his body stopped listening to his head long before he reached that point.  Chloe didn't seem to mind though, and watched him with a wide smile as he cleaned the stickiness from her stomach.  When he was done, she reached out and took his hand.

"I feel wet."

He looked down at her belly again, not seeing anything that he'd missed.  "I think I got it all."

She shook her head and he noticed that her eyes seemed sleepy.  She was pushing his hand down, toward her bellybutton, and he suddenly understood.  He dropped the washrag on the floor beside the bed and stretched out beside her again, moving up against her.

"May I touch you?"

He waited until she whispered _yes_ before moving his hand down over her hip, slowly, watching her face to gauge her reactions.  "How much feeling do you have below your waist?"

"It's a bit funny from my hips down, right about where your hand is, but...I can feel stuff."

"Will you feel it if I touch you between your legs?"

"Yes."

"Is it alright if I do?"

"Yes..."

She closed her eyes, her heart pounding as she listened to his breathing, slow and steady and in control...and then he was touching her, and a million sensitive nerve endings that she'd never known she had suddenly burst to delicious life.  She barely heard his voice when he spoke, softly and quietly, his mouth so close to hers that she could feel his breath with each word.

"May I take your jeans off?"

"Yes."

He sat up and moved to the end of the bed, unbuttoning and unzipping her pants, slowly tugging them down;  he'd only touched her legs a few times, the first time briefly in the grocery store and the second time when he had picked her up to carry her into the bedroom;  he'd helped her reposition them twice since they'd gotten into bed together, but those had been functional touches, not meant for intimate intent.  This time he let his hands slowly run down from her knees to her ankles, watching her face to see what kind of reaction handling them would draw from her.  She seemed to like it and it didn't seem to hurt her.

"Can you feel this, Chloe?"  He was very lightly pressing his fingers into her calves, moving back up to her knees and waiting for her response before continuing to her thighs.  Her eyes were closed and she nodded.

"It's sort of like when your leg goes to sleep but you know someone is poking you.  It's more of an awareness than an actual sense of feeling.  But I like it."

"Were your legs broken in the accident?"

"No...just my back."

He leaned down and pressed a kiss to the inside of her knee.  Her eyes were still closed, but she sucked in her breath.   _She felt that_ he thought with excitement. _She knows what I'm doing._

"Is it okay if I spread your legs a little bit so I can touch you?"

She giggled, a soft girlish sound that was muffled as soon as it broke from her mouth by her hands flying up to cover her face.  "Oh god...um...yes, please."

With her permission, he gently moved her legs apart, bringing the sheet down to cover her as he crawled back up beside her.  He quickly closed and buttoned his own jeans as he bent his head down and kissed her lips, very softly.

"Still doing okay?"

She looked up at him, at his sweet reassuring smile and his kind eyes, and knew this was right.

"I'm good."

He kissed her for a while longer, touching her gently, cupping her breasts in his hands, teasing her nipples into hardness as he feathered soft kisses down her throat.  She responded to every touch, every caress, her little gasps and moans of pleasure stiffening him into readiness again, but he ignored it so that he could concentrate on her, only on her.  She was suddenly shy as he moved the sheets down, hiding her face behind her hands when he bent his head to suckle her nipple, her gasp of surprised pleasure bringing a smile to his lips as he listened, paying attention to her every reaction, discovering what she liked and responded to the most.  He'd learned a bit the previous night, but she seemed far more reactive now, more aroused and needy.  After a little while he slipped his hand down between her legs, feeling her tense sharply when he cupped his hand lightly over her soft mound. 

"Is this alright?"  His fingers were moving gently across the outside of her panties;  he could feel her soft folds, touching her lightly until she shivered, nodding her permission.

"Yes..."

Slipping one finger inside the thin fabric of her panties, he very gently eased just a fingertip between her folds, stroking very slowly until the tension in her belly eased and he could feel her relaxing under his touch.

"What would you like me to do, Chloe?"

Her eyes fluttered open and he could see a warm spark of desire in the soft blue of her irises.

"What _can_ we do?"

"Anything you want."

"I want...more of _that,_ please."

Very slowly, he pushed his finger further into her, stopping when he felt resistance.   _She's a virgin._  Something about that made him very happy, but he didn't want it to be this way for her, not her first time. Pulling his finger out just as slowly as he'd pushed it in, he shushed her when she whimpered in disappointment as he removed his hand completely from between her legs. 

"You've never had sex, have you Chloe?"

"No."

He stroked her cheek, pressing a light kiss over one eye as he whispered to her.  "It's okay, baby.  Don't be scared."

"I'm not."  There was no fear in her voice and it emboldened him, her willingness to accept his attentions, her desire to experience whatever he was willing to give her.  He found himself wanting to give her everything, his mind racing to figure out what he should and shouldn't do.

"Would you be okay with me kissing you...here?"  He had moved his hand back to the soft place between her legs again and was rubbing very gently over the sensitive little nub hidden just at the top of her opening.  When he touched it directly, her upper body tensed, arching a little off the bed.  He made note of it in his head, how and to what extent she could move, where her mobility stopped.  Based on what he'd seen, he knew she wouldn't be able to tense her lower body muscles against the intensity of a strong orgasm if she had one.  It seemed cruel to him and he wasn't sure how he would work around it...maybe if he edged her a bit, brought her up slowly and backed off, he could keep it mild enough not to overwhelm her.  Without knowing what degree of sensation she had, forcing her to feel something too strong for her could be damaging...he didn't want her to end up not liking it, or worse, being afraid to do it again.

He would go slow, and pay attention to her reactions.  If she said _enough,_ it would be enough.

"Yes...please...?"  She was biting her lip, staring at him with such a hesitant pleading mixed with raw desire that it made him dizzy for a moment.  But only a moment.

Without another thought to hold him back, he began kissing his way slowly down her body, stopping long enough to lick and tease her breasts and suck at her nipples till she moaned before he moved on, noting how her stomach muscles trembled when he dragged his tongue lightly around the indent of her bellybutton.  Moving slowly, he inched lower, hooking his fingers under the sides of her panties and easing them down, pressing his mouth to her just as she winced with the awareness that she was now bare.  "It's okay baby," he reassured her, breaking into a wide grin when she responded to a slow lick by yelping and grabbing the sheets.  "Relax, I'm going to kiss you a bit, maybe lick and suck a little, is that alright?"

She nodded frantically, pulling the sheet up to bury her face in it.

"If you need me to stop, you can say so Chloe," he murmured, nudging his lips down further, letting his tongue dip tenderly inside the soft flesh of her labia, tasting her, fighting back a groan of arousal when he felt her wetness on his chin.  "And if you need to come, you go ahead and let go when you're ready."

She was still nodding, her face hidden under the bunched up sheet, small muffled whimpers coming from under it.

"Chloe, are you okay?"  Reaching up, he gently tugged the sheet down so he could see her.  "You alright under there?"  Her eyes were clenched shut, her teeth biting the sheet as he playfully tried to pull it away.  When she finally let it go, he could see she was panting, her breath coming in heaves, her face scrunched up into a twisted little grimace of pained pleasure.

_"Please...Tommy...get back down there...!"_

He stared at her in confused surprise for a second before he realized what was going on, the almost frantic urgency in her voice telling him that she was already there - his kisses and caresses and finally the touch of his mouth between her legs had already brought her to the brink and she was barely hanging on.

"Oh shit!"

Laughing, he ducked his head back down between her thighs, all apprehension about this being too much for her gone now;  he slipped his arms under her legs to lift her up a little, opening her to him, licking and kissing her till her keening moans rose in pitch and intensity and her hands gripped the sheets so hard they popped off the corners of the mattress.  And when she came, those sweet little moans erupted into a strangled scream that only his fingers nudging gently into her mouth could stifle.

He soothed her with soft words while she slowly unwound, stroking her belly, moving back up to lay beside her as she trembled in his arms, her body finally relaxing so that she could catch her breath enough to speak.  But she didn't say anything...he held her for a long while, wanting to ask if she was okay, doubt beginning to creep in as his mind raced around the possible reasons for her silence.

_Had it been too much?_

_Had it been too soon?_

_Had he allowed her to go too far, too fast?_

_Had he hurt her somehow?_

He respected her need for quiet as long as he could, till finally he couldn't take it anymore and urged her to turn her face up to him, his fingers under her chin pulling gently.

"Chloe?  Are you okay?"

Her gaze finally, slowly met his and he felt an overwhelming rush of relief when he saw tears squeezing out of the corners of her eyes, sliding down her cheeks to the upturned corners of the widest, happiest, most serenely content smile he thought he'd ever seen.

 

 

_To be continued..._

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

 

 

                                        

 

"Chloe, how long have we been working together?"

"Six years."

"And in those six years have I ever allowed you to slack off because your head was elsewhere?"

"No."

"And I'm not gonna start today.  Now get your brain back in the game and lets get those legs working."

The happy, pure contentment that had been manifesting itself as a wide smile and a distracted head were quickly hidden behind a look of seriousness and stern determination - but Tommy was on the veranda working and Chloe kept stealing glances at him, loving the warm fluttery feeling she got in the pit of her stomach every time she looked at him.  The therapist noticed and let her distraction slide, until her lack of concentration made her nearly slip on the parallel bars and he finally called her out on it.

She put her head down sheepishly and apologized when he caught her in his big arms, flashing him a quick smile that she knew would soften him up.

He wasn't impressed.

"Sorry," she muttered again, trying not to meet his scolding look as he stood her back up.

"Do it again. _Right_ this time."

Nodding quickly, she pulled herself up on the bars and started inching her way down the length of them while Martin turned and looked out to the veranda.  "So who is that guy?" he asked, the growl of annoyance barely hidden in his voice.  "He doing some tech work for you or something?"

Her grin and the warm flush that crept up her cheeks was damning.  "He's a friend."

"Yeah?  Where'd you find him, the geek squad counter at Best Buy?"

"He followed me home from the store."

"Bullshit, you've been looking at him like he's a T-bone steak the whole time I've been here."  He gave her a fierce scowl, one she'd seen a million times and that didn't worry her in the least.  "Have I been replaced in your affections?  Has that distracted little primadonna heart of yours finally found something to catch its attention?  Hm?  I wasn't good enough for you?"  He gave her a gentle poke in the ribs, testing her ability to maintain her grip on the bars as much as attempting to tease her.  "Six years I've been with you and you treat me like this?"

"Stop!"  She was laughing loudly by now at the mock scolding and Tommy looked up from his computer, turning to glance inside to see what the noise was.  He slid the glass door open and stuck his head in.

"I thought you two were supposed to be working."

"I thought the same about you Romeo, get your ass back outside."  Martin snapped his fingers and pointed to the veranda table.

"Martin!"

Chloe shot the big man a frown and he backed down, raising his hands in mock surrender as the girl started to giggle.  "Come here Tommy, I want you to meet my PT guy."

 _"PT guy._  Yeah, see how easily she relegates me to no-name status as soon as she gets a honey."

"You're my honey, Martin.  You always will be, there's a special place in my heart for big men who torture me and make me cry."

"Yeah, you're a twisted little princess, that innocent smile isn't fooling me."

The wide grin that broke across Martin's face was enough to tell Tommy that these two had a special relationship - a very _protective_ one.  He sighed, stepping inside, trying to keep his thoughts from showing on his face.  Another person with attachment issues, already making it clear that they were ready to stand between himself and Chloe.

Just what he needed.

"Hey Martin."  He extended a hand, trying hard not to wince when the man gripped it in a handshake so crushing he could almost feel his knuckles shattering.  Martin was about the same height as him, but had a good thirty or forty pounds or so on him in overall size and a general menacing manner that made him feel small.  He was just about to ask about Chloe's therapy when the man turned and crouched in front of her where she sat, lifting one of her legs up to his shoulder.

He suddenly felt his face go a little hot, watching another man handle her legs that way.  It was purely nonsexual, but the reaction it drew from him was disconcerting, as his mind raced back to the previous night and the memory of touching her legs himself;  a thoroughly unpleasant jolt of jealousy and possessiveness shot through him and he shoved his hands into his pockets, trying to keep his expression from giving the big man anything to mock him for.  But Chloe made a little sound of discomfort and Martin began rubbing his hands up and down the back of her thigh, completely ignoring him like he'd forgotten he was even there.

"This is what we'll work on right after your surgery.  It won't be fun but it'll help with those shortened muscles along your spine."

It was obvious to Tommy that he'd been wordlessly dismissed, but Martin's comments caught his attention.

"What surgery?"

Chloe winced, leaning forward to touch her forehead to her elevated knee while Martin slowly straightened her leg.  "They operate on my back every eighteen months or so, just incremental repair work on my spine."

"Is it major?"

"Not really, but I'll be in bed for a week after."

"Oh."

Martin gave Chloe a look, but she shot him one back and he remained silent.  Tommy fidgeted uncomfortably for a moment, not sure if he should ask any more questions with him in the room;  the big man didn't seem inclined to be the slightest bit friendly toward him and it made him tense.  He had a strong dislike for combative natures, and his oppositional relationship with Amy was more than enough.

But the stubborn streak that ran wide through his own nature made him straighten his back and disregard the therapist's dour presence.

"Will Amy be here with you?"

Chloe nodded, wincing as Martin moved her leg onto his shoulder and slowly straightened her knee.  "She always is.  And I hate it because she's no fun and she bitches the whole time about having to take a week off from school - but if you ask me I think her students can't _wait_ for my surgeries."

He watched as Martin brought her leg down and began massaging her ankle, manipulating her bare foot between his big hands.  He felt his cheeks going red...the sight of her tiny foot in the man's lap, being rubbed and bent and gently turned was disturbingly erotic and he felt sick for a moment, almost angry that the hands doing the rubbing weren't his own.

"I can stay with you," he blurted out hurriedly.

"Really?"

Martin covered his mouth, thinly disguising the word _desperate!_ as he pretended to cough.  Chloe gave him a push and shot him another scolding look as he shrugged, getting to his feet to begin gathering his equipment while Tommy tried his best to ignore him.

"Yeah, I work out of my computer, remember?  Wherever it is, that's my office."

"You really wouldn't want to do this.  I'm sort of completely helpless for a few days and then Martin comes and gets me up and it gets ugly from there."

"Very ugly," Martin interjected, rolling up the floor mat and stuffing it into his bag.  "She looks like Ben Stiller when she cries, it's like that scene at the end of Something About Mary when he thinks he's lost the girl and is walking down the street blubbering."

"Shut up!  You're so mean."

"Tears falling, snot flying, boo hooing like a great big baby - "

"I can do it," Tommy interrupted, talking to Chloe as if Martin wasn't there.  "If you want me to, that is.  I really don't mind."

Martin stopped and stared at him, but he refused to be cowed...if Amy couldn't chase him off, he'd be damned if this arrogant giant would succeed in intimidating him.  Chloe looked at him for a minute, then finally nodded, a smile lighting up her face.

"I'd like that."

Rolling his eyes, Martin loudly collapsed the exercise bars, making as much noise as he could while Tommy returned to work on the veranda.

"That boy's an idiot," he said crankily; but Chloe wasn't listening, and if she heard him, she didn't care.

 

 

It had been a few days since they'd seen each other and Chloe was a little bit worried that Martin's harsh ribbing had rubbed Tommy the wrong way, or that he'd mistaken their familiarity with each other for something it wasn't - she thought about it later, about how Tommy had quickly looked at the floor when Martin touched her, even though it was purely professional and they were nothing more than friends, a doctor-patient relationship that had the comfort and familiarity of years behind it.  She felt bad that she hadn't caught on to the fact that it made him feel uncomfortable, but she was so used to Martin handling her that she hadn't thought anything of it at the time.

It made her feel strangely tingly inside now when she realized he'd maybe, possibly, been a little bit jealous that another man had his hands on her, even if it was completely innocent.  But Martin's touch meant nothing to her except sore muscles and the pain of learning to move again, while the memory of Tommy's touch was something completely different and _far_ more pleasant.  She was learning to move with his touch as well...but it was a whole new set of muscles that didn't involve her legs, and the only pain was the intensity of how good it felt as disused nerve endings yawned and stretched and came to exhilarated life.

The memory of that touch kept her awake at night with a fevered longing to feel it again.  His hands on her body had awakened something in her...his strong fingers, his warm mouth, all the delicate places he put them both, the gentle way he asked her permission to give her pleasure...she missed it already, and though the memory made her feel warm and funny in all the places he'd touched, she kept her hands tucked up under her pillow.

Those places were his now, whether he realized it or not...and the only hands she wanted touching them were _his._

 

He called her on Wednesday night to tell her he missed her, but his news that he was working from the headquarters office all week did little to soothe her misgivings - she was still angry with herself for missing his signals and not asking Martin to let her take a break to talk to him.  Amy noticed her mood, staring curiously at her normally docile little sister as she rammed into the furniture with her wheelchair and refused to answer in anything more than curt single word responses.  It wasn't like her, and she found it worrisome.

"What's with the bug up your butt?" she finally asked after hastily backstepping out of the way for the third time to avoid having her toes run over.

"Nothing."

"Hmm."  Feigning disinterest as she put the groceries away, she watched Chloe from the corner of her eye until she couldn't hold her tongue any longer.  "Has that Tommy boy been around lately?"

Chloe didn't answer.  She didn't like talking about him with Amy - her sister's condescending, disapproving tone toward him irritated her normally good temperament and made her cranky and upset.  She shook her head and turned to wheel herself back into the livingroom.

"Well, I'm glad for that.  He's just going to take advantage of you if you're not careful."

Chloe stopped in the doorway, her back stiff with instant anger.  She knew where this was going to go.

"And what makes you think that?"

"Sweetie, what could he possibly want from you?  There's literally nothing you have to offer him that he can't get anywhere, you're just a - "

"A what?"  She finally turned, glaring at Amy.  "An easier target than a girl that can run from him?"

"You know that's not what I meant."

"Oh but isn't it?  You honestly think there's nothing about me that a guy could like because I can't walk?  Amy you have _always_ reduced me to this chair that I sit in and that's not fair!"

"Then tell me what he wants, Chloe.  Tell me why he hangs out here.  Starbucks has wifi, he could do his work there!"

"He needs the quiet."

"Yeah, that's not all he needs."

The snide insinuation in her tone wasn't lost on Chloe and she shot her sister a nasty look.  By nature she was an agreeable person, almost to a fault, but the combination of being away from Tommy and listening to Amy question his motives was starting to be just a bit too much.  She stared at her until she finally stopped and stared back.

"You know what he looks at when he looks at me, Amy?  Do you?"

"Oh stop Chloe, you're being overly dramatic."

"No I'm not, answer me!  Do you know what he looks at?"

A heavy, put-upon sigh escaped as Amy rolled her eyes, slamming a loaf of bread down on the counter far harder than she intended.  "No, tell me what he looks at."

"He looks at _me_.  He sees _me_.  Not the chair or my limp useless legs, _me!"_

"Oh and I don't?"

"No you don't!"

Amy threw her hands in the air in frustration, mumbling angrily to herself as she quickly regathered her composure and turned to jab an accusing finger at Chloe;  she knew if she didn't regain control of the situation, she wouldn't speak to her for the rest of the evening.

"You're developing a real attitude, little girl."

"Yeah, well."  Chloe leaned forward to punch the swinging door between the kitchen and livingroom, wheeling herself through as it swung open.  "I might have broken my spine, but I do still have one." 

 

 

Saturday finally brought Tommy's project to a stopping point and he showed up at Chloe's door, an apology on his face as he stood on the porch with his hands in his pockets and - for once - no computer tucked under his arm.  A tight deadline and a slow team had kept him busy, too busy to visit and working far too late into the evenings to call, though he had texted her a few times during downtime.  But she was happy to see him and there was nothing but joy and excitement in her face when she opened the door.

The relief made him dizzy.  Though he'd been busy, the work allowed him time to think, and more and more he'd found his thoughts wrapped up in a delicate little blonde haired girl with soft blue eyes and a warm smile that made his heart clutch up.  The last few days apart had only made it clear to him that away from her was a place he really didn't want to be.

And now that he was on her porch and grinning stupidly down at her, he found himself wanting more than anything to pick her up and kiss her, hold her for a while, then carry her to her bed.

"Oh, it's you."

He looked up, past Chloe into the front room where Amy stood, arms crossed haughtily over her chest as she glared at him.

_Well fuck, so much for romancing the girl._

"Hello Amy."

Chloe made a face at him as she wheeled her chair back to let him in.

 

"Don't mind me, I'm leaving.  Chloe, go get me your empty scrip and I'll refill it on my way home from work Monday."

The girl quickly obeyed, but the bossy way Amy had spoken to her irritated Tommy - he waited till Chloe was out of the room to say something about it, but before he could speak Amy stood up to get her purse and jacket to leave.  As she walked past him, she opened her bag and pulled out a file that she forcefully pushed in front of his face.

"You should read this."

He took it, glancing at the cover briefly.  "This is - ?"

"Chloe's police report and ER records for the night of the accident.  I figured you'd be coming around again soon...I thought you might like to know what she deals with on a daily basis."

"I'd love to know, actually," he said, far more flippantly than he intended;  Amy rubbed him wrong, everything about her, and he couldn't keep his dislike of her out of his voice.  "Thank you, I'll read it first chance I get."

There was something like a malicious satisfaction in Amy's face as she yelled goodnight to her sister, her eyes never leaving Tommy's until Chloe returned from the bathroom with her empty prescription bottle.  Tommy looked away, not wanting to intrude on their affectionate farewell as they hugged and Chloe kissed Amy's cheek;  regardless of how he felt about Amy, the last thing he wanted was to get between the two sisters, cause conflict, force anyone to choose sides.  He knew how strong family could be...and he knew he would lose.  Amy had obviously devoted the last eight years of her life to looking after Chloe and it was apparent she intended to continue doing so without interruption or interference - and the way she looked at him made it clear that she considered him to be both.

 

 

Chloe snuggled against him on the sofa, chatting happily through a movie that they'd both seen so many times they could quote nearly every line of dialogue.  When it was over she turned her face up to him with a sweetly sleepy smile, but there was something else in her eyes...Tommy knew she was going to ask him to stay, but he was functioning - barely - on too many deadlines, too much Red Bull, and far too little sleep.

But he wanted more than anything for her to be happy, and he knew she would be disappointed that he didn't have the energy to pay much attention to her.

He couldn't bear the thought of making her unhappy.

"I need to sleep for about twelve hours straight," he said, laughing, though he was only half joking.  "But I was thinking I'd work from here again next week, if that's alright with you.  I thought maybe I'd just bring some clothes and bunk in."

Her bright smile perked him up and he leaned over to kiss her, waiting until she turned her face up to him again before he pressed his lips against hers.  They were soft and warm and he was starting to rethink his need for a full twelve hours when his cellphone rang, a reminder from a member of his project team that he still had a draft to submit by midnight.  He sighed heavily as he put his phone back in his pocket and stood to get his jacket, picking up the file Amy had given him.  

Chloe watched from the sofa, curled up in a blanket, and god help him despite his exhaustion all he could think about was her stretched out in her bed with her legs apart, letting him kiss her in all the soft sensitive places she'd never realized she had.

"I'll call you tomorrow after I wake up," he said, leaning over to kiss her goodnight.

 

  

_To be continued..._


	7. Chapter 7

 

 

The look on Amy's face was even less welcoming than usual when she entered the kitchen, if such a thing was possible - Tommy was at the sink washing his and Chloe's dishes from supper when she walked in, her expression going from mildly irritated to outright angry as she slammed a bag of groceries down on the counter and glared at him.

"I thought I recognized that trash heap car of yours out front.  What are you doing here?"

Tommy glanced up, just briefly.  "Clearing up the dishes, at the moment.  Then I'm probably going to watch a movie with Chloe.  Beyond that, you'll have to ask her because we really haven't officially mapped out the rest of the evening."

"What makes you think you can just come in here and start doing things?  This isn't your house, you don't live here."

"No, but I ate here and I was raised that you clean up after yourself."

She stared at him for a long moment, temper rising as he paid her no mind.

"Yeah, speaking of that, I always cook dinner for Chloe on Monday, did she forget to tell you that?  Or did you just decide you'd change our schedule to suit yourself?"

He put a plate in the drainer and picked up a towel to dry his hands, finally turning to look at her.

"Amy, what's your problem?"

"What?"

"Your problem.  With me.  You obviously have one, and it's obviously fairly sizable and seems to stem from your paranoia concerning me being in Chloe's life.  Are you afraid I'm going to push you out, that somehow there won't be room for both of us?  Because from what I know of your sister, she has a really big heart and for you to underestimate her like that is horribly unfair."

"I don't know what you're talking about - "

He shook his head, laughing softly to himself as he took a moment to gauge her mood and figure out just how far he could push her before she ordered him out.  In the end he decided he didn't care.  "I read the accident report that you so gleefully shoved in my face the last time I was here.  Have you actually read it, Amy?"

She stared at him dumbly, not sure what he meant.

"I'm wondering if we read the same report, because the one I read said that if a passenger had been present in Chloe's car they would have been killed.  Seatbelt or not, it wouldn't have mattered.  If you'd been with her, either you or she would be dead, depending on which of you happened to get behind the wheel.  So tell me Amy, what's your problem?"

She was shaking her head slowly, confusion and shock etched deep in her brow.

"I don't...I don't understand what you mean..."

"I've been giving this a lot of thought, ever since I read the report.  Is it survivor guilt?  That can't be it, you weren't there and Chloe's alive anyway.   _So what is it?"_

Amy shot him a nasty look of pure hatred and turned to leave, but Tommy wasn't about to let her go without making her talk.  "Tell me, Amy - you're harboring something dark and ugly and it spews out of you every time I get near your sister.  I don't plan on walking away so you'd be doing yourself a huge favor to just get this out in the open between us."

"You don't have any right - "

_"What is your problem Amy??"_

"She shouldn't have been in that car to begin with! _I_ was supposed to make that trip!"

Slapping her hands over her mouth, Amy stood in a frozen panic, staring at the kitchen door like she was waiting for Chloe to come through it.  But she didn't, and a heavy sigh of relief filled the space between herself and Tommy as she regathered her calm.  "Look, not that it's any of your business, but you read the first responder notes and the ER admission papers, right?  I'm sure you drew the same conclusion the rest of us did."

"And what conclusion would that be?"

He knew from the grim look on Amy's face what she was going to say, but he wanted to hear her say it.

"That she'd have been better off in the passenger seat."

 

Neither of them said anything for a long time;  Tommy didn't trust himself to speak just yet, with the revulsion he felt boiling in his gut.   _She'd rather Chloe was dead.  Fucking ice in her veins bitch._

"Look," he finally said, quietly, keeping his voice low and controlled and as emotionless as he could manage.  "I know you're the person she depends on the most, and I know that means something to you.  It's important to you, I get it.  But maybe, just maybe, she wants to be allowed to depend on someone else from time to time."

"Like you, I'm guessing?"

"Yes, like me."

Amy shook her head, the malicious sarcasm that Tommy knew was about to come out of her mouth showing plainly on her face.  He cut her off before she had the chance to turn it loose.

"You said you wanted me to see what Chloe deals with on a daily basis.  Did you think that if I read the ER report on her injuries and the final prognosis for her future that I'd walk away from her?  Because what I think you _meant_ to say was that you wanted me to see what _I_ would have to deal with on a daily basis if I stick around.  Am I right?"

No answer, just a cold stare.  It was more than he could finally take and his temper rose along with his voice as he threw his hands in the air in frustration.  "What exactly do you want, Amy?  What is it you want from me?"

"I want you out of Chloe's life!"

"Why?!"

"Because when she stops depending on _me_ and starts depending on _you,_ and you get tired of it and want to quit, who do you think is going to have to see her cry?  Who do you think is going to have to step back in and make it better for her when you get bored of it all, of the inconvenience of it, when the _novelty_ of having a cute handicapped girlfriend wears off and you don't want to deal with the reality of a cripple in a wheelchair anymore?  She's never going to walk again, Tommy!  How long is that going to be okay with you?!"

Tommy felt his mouth fall open, but he had no words;  he didn't need any, because she was far from finished with what she had to say to him.

"How long are you going to be willing to carry her around, to help her get dressed every morning, to get her in and out of the shower and leave an hour early for every damn thing for the rest of your life to give yourself time to get her chair in and out of the trunk of your car?!  Hm?   _How long is that going to be fun for you?_  Because _it will stop_ being fun, and then you'll want to just hand her back to me like a toy you don't want anymore.  She's not a cute little pet, Tommy!  It will get very _very_ old very _very_ fast once you realize _that's your life!"_

Tommy stared at her, face blank with shock.

"You're tired, Amy.  You should leave before you say more things worth regretting."

"You can't tell me to get out of my sister's house."

_"No, but I can."_

Tommy closed his eyes, a look of dread coming over his face as he saw Chloe over Amy's shoulder, sitting in the open doorway.  Amy's eyes went wide and she spun around.

"Chloe!  Sweetie, I didn't hear you come in - "

"I know.  You were too busy explaining to Tommy all the ways that I'm a burden."

"Oh honey, no - "

"Get out, Amy."

Tommy watched in silence as the two sisters stared at each other;  he couldn't see Amy's face, but he could see her slowly shaking her head and knew that her face was the last thing he wanted to see right that moment.  Chloe backed her chair up, holding the door open.

"Please...just go."

 

 

Tommy sat down on the edge of Chloe's bed, reaching out one hand to tickle her nose with a strand of her own hair.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

She nodded, her eyes puffy from crying. "Yeah."

"Look, I know we'd sort of, unspokenly, decided that I'd bunk down in here, but...I'm going to sleep out on the sofa tonight, okay?  I think you might need to be alone and I'm in a shit mood and frankly I'm half afraid Amy will come stomping back in after she thinks I've gone."

Chloe's face fell.   It broke Tommy's heart but he refrained from gathering her up in a hug - he didn't feel confident that he could keep contact to innocent comfort and here, on her bed, with her suddenly needy and him feeling protective...even a simple hug could and probably would easily fall into more.

 _More_ wasn't something he wanted to deal with tonight.

But Chloe wasn't feeling his concern.

"No, Tommy - I want you to sleep in here with me.  Please?"  The look of anguished pleading in her eyes clutched at his heart and he felt his normally strong resolve crumble instantly in front of her.  He also couldn't ignore the almost demanding tone in her voice and realized that she was telling him what she needed.

"Okay, okay sweetheart, but listen - let's _just_ sleep, okay?  We're both under a lot of stress and I don't want anything to happen between us that we don't feel good about.  Alright?"

She nodded, still pouting, but she didn't appear to be in any danger of dissolving into tears and for that he felt a tremendous relief.  Kissing her on the forehead, he got up to change his clothes, noting with even more relief that she was more or less fully dressed in a pair of pajama pants and a tank top.  But the top was tight across her breasts and he had to look away quickly while she settled into the blankets, sighing softly as she got comfortable.

 _Don't think about what we've done,_ he chastised himself on his way to the bathroom.   _Don't think about kissing her breasts or touching her between her legs...about her little hand wrapped around your cock...don't go anywhere near any of it._

As he brushed his teeth, he kept reminding himself of Amy, haughtily shoving the accident report in his face...and of what the report said had happened to the girl in the next room, waiting in her cozy bed for him to come and cuddle with her till they both fell asleep.

_She'd have been better off in the passenger seat._

Maybe it had been true...but when he thought about never having seen her that night in the grocery store, with her bright sunny smile and disposition to match, he felt grateful that she'd been strong enough to hold on, despite how much she'd suffered.  Despite how much she was still suffering.

It made him feel guilty, being glad that she'd pulled through a living hell just so that he could have the pleasure of knowing her.

 

 

In the morning he woke first, spooned up against Chloe from behind, and as the warm sunlight fell across her head he found himself just staring at her, his mind lazily playing over some newfound facts that made him smile through the first sleepy haze of wakefulness.

Her hair was golden in the bright light.  He picked up a long strand and let it slide between his fingers;  there were bits that caught the sun and almost sparkled.

_God she's pretty._

He felt uncomfortable in places but too comfortable to move in others, but she was still sleeping so he left it be, trying his best to ignore the sensation of fullness and lazy arousal that being pressed up against her backside was giving him.  The next thing he became aware of was how perfectly she fit into him, her back bowed forward just slightly as he bent himself around her.  His arms were cradling her, one under her neck, the other laid over her waist, her small hands loosely holding his.

A sneaked kiss to the rounded curve of her ear brought a soft little noise from her throat.

"Mmmm...good morning."  She turned her face up, her eyes still closed.  "You stayed."

"Of course I stayed.  Where else would I want to be?"

Chloe snuggled back against him, sighing happily.  Someone's stomach growled, but neither of them were sure whose it was.  Breakfast didn't seem anywhere near as important as just laying like this, breathing softly, talking quietly, as the stripes of sunlight creeping across the bed slowly made their way across the blanket and fell finally, silently, to the floor.

 

 

"You're...incredibly beautiful, Chloe.  Just gorgeous."

He knelt in front of her, his knees against hers, his hands laying in her lap clutching at her fingers nervously.  They'd spent the day skirting each other with a sort of strange apprehension, the familiar comfort of waking up so closely entwined with one another bringing shy smiles one moment and a self conscious averting of eyes the next.  The memory of their previous intimate encounter still made Chloe's stomach feel warm and fluttery, but they'd done little more than kiss since that night and something was nagging at her head, a game of uneasy second guessing playing out just beyond her ability to stop it.  She was beginning to worry that she'd asked too much of him, made him move too fast in her eager excitement to experience the burgeoning sensuality his touch had awakened in her.

She felt hungry for it now, and stealing glances at him as he worked on the veranda just made her wish for more.

 _Stop being needy,_ she scolded herself.   _You know this is about Amy.  You want him to make it better.  Don't do that to him, he doesn't deserve it._

But he seemed too absorbed in his work to pay much attention to her, and by the time he came inside for lunch, she had let her emotions take a wrong turn into self doubt.  He'd done what she'd asked, each time she had asked something of him - but had he really wanted to do it?  He gave her a quick smile as he entered the kitchen, stopping to look at her again when he realized she wasn't smiling back.

"Chloe, is something wrong?"

"Are you...attracted to me?"

He was surprised at her question - he'd expected her to say she was mad or upset or sad over falling out with her sister.  The look that crossed his face as he knelt down in front of her was so earnest, so sincere, it tugged at her heart and she freed one of her hands from his to brush his hair back.  He was nodding, his breathing quickening as his eyes drifted shut for a moment in response to her touch.

"So much, sweetheart...it sort of...hurts."  He opened his eyes again and she felt his fingers tightening on hers.  "I really want you, Chloe."

She felt shaky in her stomach, but they'd known this time would come.  He wanted to make love to her, and she wanted more than anything to say yes.

But she wasn't sure how.

 

She'd been two days from her eighteenth birthday when the accident happened.  She'd had one boyfriend, in ninth grade, and it had lasted for all of three weeks and two brief, sloppy kisses.

How could she tell him?  Not only was he going to have to deal with the inconvenience of her uncooperative body, but she was completely inexperienced on top of that.  She knew he was aware of that fact, but knowing it and working around it were two entirely different things.  He'd been understanding and considerate with her before...but this, this was a big thing.  And she was shy, though she'd made it through being mostly naked in front of him without too much struggle, had been able to allow him to touch and kiss and lick her in intimate places that she never even touched with her own fingers except for nonsexual purposes.  But nearly a decade of being confined to a wheelchair had resulted in an almost nonexistent body image...all she saw when she thought of herself was the chair she was sitting in.

But in his bright blue eyes she didn't see the chair's reflection.  She only saw herself, and she knew that was all he saw as well. 

 

"Do you want to?  With me?"

She chewed her lip, but didn't hesitate to nod, following the gesture with a very quiet _Yes._  

 

She couldn't ever remember her bed feeling quite this soft, her sheets quite this clean and fresh and inviting, as they did when Tommy gently laid her down on them and snuggled down under the comforter beside her.

"Are you feeling rushed because of your surgery?" he asked as he scooted close, laying his hand on her shoulder to rub her soothingly with his thumb.  "Like we should do it now, before the operation, because it will be a while after before we could try it again?"

She nodded, an apologetic look on her face.  "But that's not all it is," she said quietly.  "I really want to." 

He nodded, his smile widening as he moved closer, settling his head on her pillow.  "Then I think we need to talk about it first.  I'll need you to tell me what to do - or what not to do."

"I'm afraid I'm not the person to ask.  I've never done this."

His face took on a thoughtful look for a moment, then he gave her a decisive nod.  "Okay.  I can deal with that.  I'm a bit nervous about your back though...I don't want to hurt you.  Do you think you can take my weight?  Or should we try it a different way?"

"I really don't know.  I guess we should just try it and see what works.  But - "  Her voice stopped suddenly and he waited, but she didn't continue and there was something worrisome in her eyes.

"Do you have any doubts, Chloe?"

"No, it's not that.  I'm just - my legs.  I can't move them, you'll have to do everything.  I'm sorry."

"Shhh...that's not a problem, baby."

He kissed her, and it was tender and gentle and full of the longing they'd both felt but hadn't given full voice to till now.

And when he finally moved over her, supporting his weight off her with his arms, kissing her softly and whispering soothingly to her to still her fears, she knew everything would be alright.  He would take care of her and watch out for her and make sure her needs were met, and he would do it all gently and with great care.

And he did.

 

There was very little pain when he entered her, though the stinging, stretching sensation of being opened for the first time made her whimper and squirm under him.  He stopped and kissed her, cuddling her close until she stilled, asking in a quiet, soothing voice if she was comfortable, if she needed to move, if his weight was too much for her.  She looked up at him with wonder and excitement in her eyes, but it was the dreamy look of happy contentment behind it all that finally calmed his nerves and helped him relax.  She smiled, assuring him that she was fine, her hands sliding up his back to tug at his shoulders.

With a wide grin, he shifted a knee to gently spread her legs a bit further, pushing slowly in till Chloe's mouth dropped open and she gasped.

"Are you okay, Chloe?"

The look on her face was caught somewhere between discomfort and surprise, as if she was shocked that it felt good.  Her eyes were wide when she brought them to his, an excited little laugh tumbling from her lips.  "I'm good," she said, nodding.  "I'm good."

"I'm going to start moving now, baby," he whispered against her cheek as he listened carefully to her breathing.  It was steady, only slightly labored - he knew she couldn't lay flat on her back for long without having issues, but she seemed okay as she nodded her approval again.  "Hold onto me, keep your mouth near my ear so I can hear you," he murmured, slowly beginning to thrust with his hips.  "Tell me if you need me to stop."

Her soft moan told him what he needed to know.

He'd been with women before, but something about the softness of Chloe's body was intoxicating...and her inability to move from her hips down made him intensely aware of the placement of their limbs, both hers and his, keeping his mind divided between the pleasure of making love to her and the need to be constantly careful not to hurt her.  The result was a slow and tender mating that brought Chloe to orgasm gently and easily long before Tommy was anywhere near ready to finish.  He helped her to calm and settle again, shifting her lower body to take the pressure off her hips and spine before continuing, bringing her to another, stronger climax as he sucked at her nipples and stroked her with his fingers.  There were tears squeezing from her eyes when he pulled his head up to kiss her, shifting again to hold himself off her as he finally allowed himself to reach his own release.

Chloe felt him tense, rubbing his back soothingly as he trembled for a moment above her, his arms going weak with the effort of keeping his weight off her until finally he opened his eyes, an exhausted grin spreading quickly across his face.  He kissed her tenderly as he slowly pulled out of her and fell onto the bed next to her, gathering her into his arms, making sure that her legs weren't twisted before he settled with a heavy, deeply contented sigh.  She fidgeted for a moment to get comfortable, then turned her face up to his, resting her chin on his still heaving chest.

"Tommy - ?"

Touching her cheek lightly with the backs of his fingers, he lowered his head to kiss her hair.

"Yes baby."

"That was good."

He laughed softly, stroking her hair as he struggled to catch his breath.  "It was, wasn't it?"

They lay silent for a long while, kissing tenderly, touching each other gently, feeling each other's heartbeats as they slowed and gradually fell back into their normal rhythms.  But Chloe felt like her own was different now, somehow...that it was beating with just a little bit more purpose.  She nuzzled her face into Tommy's neck and inhaled his scent, loving the earthy smell of the sweat on his skin.

"Everything's going to be okay, isn't it."

Tommy thought for a moment, pondering the strangeness of the question.  It wasn't even a question, really - she'd spoken it as a statement, her words more sure than inquisitive.  He looked down at her and saw that she was smiling.

"Yes baby...everything's definitely going to be okay."

There were no more words spoken between them as they drifted off to sleep.

 

 

 _To be continued..._  


	8. Chapter 8

 

 

 

 

 

"You know your surgery is next week, right?"

"Of course I know."

"Then what makes you think you're going out?  You need to be resting up."

"I'm fine, Amy."

The look Tommy felt hit him from across the room was chilling, but he didn't look;  it would only encourage her, like making eye contact with an angry dog provokes it to attack.  There had been an uncomfortable sort of nervous peace in the house since the night Chloe had made Amy leave, and Tommy had no intention of getting in between them again.  He kept his attention focused on his computer screen and waited for the two sisters to resume arguing before he dared to take a breath and sneak off to the kitchen for a glass of water.

He was barely to the sink when he heard Amy come in behind him.

"She has no business being out running around the week before her surgery.  If she gets exposed to something and comes down sick it could be catastrophic!"

_"Catastrophic."_   He didn't even try to keep the mocking tone out of his voice as he shook his head.  His temper was starting to come up already and he knew if she said one more word to him he was going to stop holding his tongue and let her have it.

"You don't understand - "

"I _do_ understand, Amy.  I'm not stupid, I ask questions, I do my research.  And I know this runs all kinds of contrary to your belief concerning your sister, but she does actually know what she can and can't do." 

"She's disabled!"

"In her body yes, not in her mind.  Stop treating her like a child, that's so insulting.  She's a grown woman and she's capable of making her own decisions."

"Like going out running around when she's supposed to be resting?"

Tommy laughed, barely able to keep the sneer off his face.  "Yes, going out for ice cream and a movie is so _dangerously_ wild!"

There was a triumphant sort of defiance in Amy's expression as she crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.  "She doesn't like ice cream."

"Yes she does."

"No she doesn't - "

_"Yes, actually she does!_  There are a lot of things you don't seem to know about her, Amy.  What I'm wondering is why you've never bothered to find any of them out!"

"Oh?  Like what?"

He gave an exasperated huff and crossed his own arms in imitation of her posture.  "Ice cream, for starters.  She loves it, you just never let her have any.  And you seem to think she's mentally incapable when in fact she's brilliant.  She's smart and she's got this intense longing to learn things, and you're keeping her holed up here like there's nothing out there for her.  She wants to experience life, not sit in a cage. And she's perfectly capable of doing pretty much anything she wants."

"Oh really.  And do you have any idea what sort of an undertaking it is to get her out into this world that you seem to think she longs for so intensely?"

"Yes, I do."

"Oh you do."

"Yeah, I took her to a concert a couple of weeks ago, did she tell you?  And she had a wonderful time."

"I suppose that's the night you decided it would be a good idea to have sex with her."

Tommy felt his eyes go wide but didn't have time to decide whether she was baiting him or if she really knew.  The look on her face didn't give her away in either direction, but he didn't feel like figuring it out - he was angry now and the words came without much thought behind them.  "As a matter of fact, _yes._  And that's another thing.  She's capable of making her own decisions about her body, informed decisions.  She's not a child, she's not a little girl, she's a grown woman and she has needs just like anyone else.  Did you know she can have orgasms?"

Amy's mouth dropped open and she stared at him in shock.  He didn't give her time to form a response.

"Well she can.  And _does._  Everything works, everything's functional.  How can you in good conscience try to prevent her from experiencing these things?"

"How _dare you - "_

"Oh fuck off Amy.  Seriously?  How dare I?  We wanted to have sex and we did.  And it was _good._  Nobody got hurt and she got to experience something you've been hiding from her for all these years.  She finally knows what all the fuss is about and you know what? _She liked it._  So don't try to sell me your warped testimony about how she's not ready for real life."

Her mouth was moving now but no words were coming out, and in a moment of combined clarity and panic, Tommy realized she _had_ probably just been baiting him. _Shit._ He covered his face with his hands for a second to regather his wits and break eye contact with her...Amy's eyes were the very last thing in the world he wanted to see right after confessing to sleeping with her sister.

"Well I hope you at least had the good sense to use protection."

Letting his hands fall, he heaved a heavy sigh of irritation and annoyance, not even trying to hide either one of them.  "Of course we used protection.  I know it's not a good idea for Chloe to get pregnant.  I wouldn't put her at risk like that."

"You know she's not on the pill - "

"Yes I know that.  If you absolutely have to know, I used a condom.  If you need proof, it's probably still in the bathroom trash can."

"Okay, that's quite enough."  Amy put her hands up, backing away toward the door.  "I don't need to hear any more.  But I swear to fucking _god_ Tommy - "  Her voice had gotten loud and she stopped, glancing back for a moment to listen, waiting to see if Chloe had overheard before continuing in a quieter tone.  "I swear to god if you hurt her I'll have you arrested for abusing a disabled girl."

Tommy didn't say anything.  There was nothing for him to say without sparking a loud argument, and Amy had just made it clear - _too_ clear - that she wasn't above putting an end to everything if he pushed her.  After a long while of staring at each other with murder flashing back and forth between them, he nodded slowly.

"Whatever you say." 

 

 

Amy hadn't taken the news well when Chloe told her Tommy was going to stay with her the week of the surgery, but she held her ground and didn't back down.  Her sister's sudden cold demeanor and refusal to meet her eyes after arguing in the kitchen with Tommy didn't bode well, but after she left and he came out to get her coat and help her to the car, it was forgotten.

But later that night as he helped her back into the house and kissed her goodnight, Tommy found himself obsessing over the unspoken part of Amy's threat...she was Chloe's caretaker and a blood relative, he'd only known her for a few weeks and his word held no weight whatsover.  He wasn't worried about himself if Amy decided to take legal steps to keep him away from her, but something nagging at the back of his mind told him she wouldn't be above claiming Chloe was mentally or emotionally incompetent and that he'd coerced her into a sexual relationship for his own benefit.  It would be devastating for her, humiliating and damaging.

Not to mention he would lose her.

In a moment of muddled panic as she smiled at him from where she sat on the edge of the bed, he came close to convincing himself the best thing he could do for her would be to spare her the trauma.  But she opened her arms to him and waited for him to come to her, and in that moment when he looked at her, the panic gave way to a clarity that made him freeze where he stood.

_He loved this girl_.

He loved her, and Amy could go to hell.

He got down on his knees in front of her and hugged her.

"Are you going to stay?" he heard her ask quietly as her fingers laced soothingly through his hair, holding his head against her chest.  He could hear her heart beating and felt himself smiling at how strong and steady it was.   _Tough little thing._

"Not tonight, sweetheart.  But I'll call you tomorrow and we'll talk about the details, okay?  We'll sort it all and then I'll be here on Friday before you go in."

"Oh...okay."  There was a distinct note of disappointment in her voice and Tommy made the mistake of looking up at her, at her big soft eyes and her sweet lips that were trying to continue smiling, and without even thinking he shook his head and took her face in his hands.

"You know what?  Forget what I just said."

The smile came back immediately and he kissed it, moving onto the edge of the bed next to her to take her into his arms;  as he laid her back gently on the soft mattress she started to giggle, a soft little infectiously happy sound that made him cock an eyebrow as he pulled away just enough to look at her.  "What's so funny?"

"You."

"Me?  Are you mocking my complete lack of a backbone when it comes to resisting your pretty little pout?"  He gave her another peck on the corner of her mouth and tickled her a little.

"Yes, I am."  She squirmed away from his hands and he stopped, flopping over onto his back to tuck his arms behind his head as she scooted herself up to give him a halfhearted glare.  "And now you resort to backbone jokes?  Really?"

"I know, that was lame."

Her mouth dropped open and she took a playful swipe at his chin.  "Lame?!  You have the worst jokes in the world!"

"I do, I really do" he nodded, chuckling wickedly.

Chloe settled her head on his shoulder and they were quiet for a moment, laying still on the bed next to each other, Tommy staring at the ceiling and Chloe staring at him.  After a while he took a deep breath and let it out slowly, turning his head to nuzzle against her face.  "Amy knows we've slept together."

There was no surprise in her reaction, she simply nodded and frowned a bit in an expression of distaste that he found amusing - and curious.

"Yeah."

He waited for her to elaborate, completely taken off guard by the fact that she wasn't panicking, or at the very least upset...she didn't seem to care much one way or the other and he stared at her questioningly until she finally shrugged.  "I told her.  She was being mean and said you wouldn't want to take care of me, and I said you already do.  It sort of...escalated from there, and I told her."

Tommy stared in shock, trying desperately to sort the feelings that were tumbling about messily in his head - surprise that Amy hadn't gone completely ballistic on him, anger that it obviously meant she hadn't believed Chloe enough to put any emotional investment into it.  Irritation that she'd tricked him into confirming it himself.  And under it all, just the slightest bit of worry that she'd orchestrated the entire scene in the kitchen to set him up for the big revelation...that she would happily put an end to it at her own discretion.

He decided not to tell Chloe about that part.

"Are you okay?  She wasn't abusive to you about it, was she?"

"Naw...I'm fine.  She wasn't happy, needless to say...but there's not a lot she can do to make it not have happened, you know?  I mean...it's sort of irreversible."

Tommy laughed, feeling a little bit of a flush in his cheeks as his thoughts ran instantly back to the sweet way her face had scrunched up when he first took her.  He turned onto his side and pressed his hand to her stomach, rubbing gently.  "How are you feeling, by the way?"

"I'm good."  Her smile fell into a frown of realization and she put her hand over his to still it.  "How did you know she knew?"

"In the kitchen.  She tossed it out and I rather stupidly took the bait and owned up to it."

"Oh boy."

"Yeah."

They looked each other in the eyes for a long time, slow smiles gradually spreading across their faces until finally Chloe laughed and pulled his hand lower, settling his fingers onto the waistband of her pants.

"Want to do it again?  It'll probably be the last time we get to until after my recovery."

There was no hesitation as Tommy slipped his hand up under the bottom of her shirt, fingers tickling around her bellybutton.

_"Oh yes."_

 

 

 

_To be continued..._


	9. Chapter 9

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_Tommy, your phone -_

_I'm not answering it._

_Are...are you sure...?_

_Chloe, I'm inside you...do you want me to stop so I can chat with my brother for ten minutes while you wait?_

_No..._

 

_Oh for fuck's sake...it's your phone now._

_At this hour it would only be Amy.  Which means that was probably her on yours too._

_Dammit - why?!_

_Shhhh...it's okay...I'll call her back when we're finished._

_Shit.  Baby, I think that's it for me._

_Tommy..._

 

 

Tommy sat back, scrubbing his hands through his hair.  The waiting room was empty except for himself and two children who appeared to have been abandoned while their parents were visiting somewhere in the hospital;  he rested his head against the wall and opened one eye to give the little girl who was staring at him a cockeyed stare.  She giggled and ran to the other side of the room to scatter some magazines across the floor.

In the distance he could hear Amy's voice, conferring with an unseen doctor whose own voice he could barely hear. _Why is she always at least five notches louder than everyone else on the planet?_  He closed his eyes again and tried not to hear her...he was still angry with her for the repeated phone calls that had intruded on his last romantic night with Chloe, nearly ending it in frustration.  But Chloe had been patient with him and once the phones were turned off, they'd been able to get the mood back and finish.

The completely trusting smile on her lips as she lay trembling in his arms afterward was still haunting his memories, pulling at his heart and his groin in equal measures.

_Oh girl.  You rattle me._

It was the same smile she'd given him right after they'd prepped her for surgery and started to wheel her out of the room.  He'd been allowed to see her for a few seconds before they took her, while Amy was yammering in the background to one of the doctors in a conversation that sounded very much like she was giving him instructions on what to do.  Chloe had ignored her until after Tommy had quickly kissed her hand that wasn't wired up with needles and tubes and told her he'd be there when she got back;  she had blessed him with that trusting smile that told him she believed him more than anything, and then shouted _See ya_ to her sister as her bed was pushed out the door.

The doctor had looked at him and shook his head as Amy abandoned him and rushed out after her, demanding that they wait.

He didn't know which doctor she had cornered now, but he felt sorry for them, whoever they were.

 

 

Five hours into Chloe's surgery a man and two children came into the waiting room and sat near him.  It was only a matter of seconds before the man's phone rang and Tommy could hear Amy's voice coming through it when he answered.  There was a short conversation that consisted mostly of her squawking with occasional attempted interjections by the man, telling her that he and the kids were in the waiting room.  A heavy sigh later, he hung up and glanced over, a sheepish and very whipped look on his face.

Tommy felt pure pity for him.  "You must be Chloe's brother in law," he said, leaning over to offer his hand to shake, carefully avoiding using Amy's name.  "I'm Tommy, I'm a friend of hers."

The look on the man's face told him without any doubt that he'd heard of him, probably far more than he wanted to.  He shook his hand and nodded.

"Blake.  I'm - "  He didn't finish, simply tilted his head toward the corridor where Amy's voice was growing louder as she got closer, talking to someone who wasn't talking back.  It seemed to be an unspoken knowledge that saying her name would risk invoking her like a demon and neither man was willing to do it.  But she came anyway and immediately started fussing over the children, combing the boy's hair with her fingers and shooting a disbelieving _Really?_ at her husband when she saw what the girl was wearing.  There was a quick kiss on the cheek between them and Tommy looked away before her eyes fell to him, fiddling with his phone to avoid having to interact with her.

The two went around the corner into the hallway to discuss something, then he heard the man saying _You should tell him._  A stabbing chill went through his gut and he was on his feet before he even thought about it.

The look on Amy's face told him he was the last person on earth she wanted to be talking to right now, but there was something else there too, a begrudging acknowledgement of sorts, buried behind the anger and borderline hatred.

"There's been a...small...complication.  Surgery's going to take a little longer than expected."

Tommy looked from Amy to Blake and back again, waiting for someone to elaborate;  the chill in his stomach was spreading and he didn't think he could speak without his voice shaking.  Amy took a deep breath.

"It's not serious, they just had to stop for a little while to wait for her blood pressure to normalize."

"Has that happened before?"

"Yes, it has actually.  She'll be fine."

He nodded, the chill in his gut still spreading, but he kept his face passive as he turned to leave the waiting area.  He was as far as the coffee vendors in the corridor when he stopped and stepped over next to one of the big machines, letting it block the view of him from the lobby as he sank to the floor with his back to the wall, his head dropping into his hands.  That brief moment, those few seconds in between the words _There's been a complication_ and _It's not serious_ had sent a jolting shock through his nervous system that felt way too much like death.

 

 

_Chloe was giggling, her hand over his eyes to stop him looking at her as she fumbled with the condom, trying to figure out which way was right-side out.  She'd had it half on him when she stretched it wrong and it shot off, hitting her in the stomach, and she'd dissolved into shocked laughter._

_"I can do this, I can," she insisted._

_Tommy had laughed, watching her struggle to put it on him, his heart clutching up when the realization hit him that in just a few short hours she would be in surgery, her back laid open, specialists working on her spine;  he ghosted his fingers lightly down her back and felt the thick scar that was reopened every time and felt his eyes burning._

_Don't cry, puss.  It was something his brother had always called him, to mock him when his eyes teared up, which was often when they were kids though not so much now that he was an adult.  But the thought of Chloe being cut open gutted him and he pulled his hand away._

_"Are you nervous about tomorrow?" he asked quietly, sucking in his breath when she finally got the condom rolled on properly, her fingers caressing him as she looked up at him with big soft eyes._

_"No, this is like the tenth time.  I'm used to it."_

_Tommy didn't know why that made him so sad, but the stab of sympathy was softened by her smile, and as he kissed her and gently eased her down onto her back he knew all he wanted was to be there when she woke up - from surgery, from sleep, from every nap she'd take for the rest of her life._

_He whispered something against her throat, but the words were so quiet that they were lost to the sound of their breathing, and as he slowly pushed into her he couldn't even recall what it was he'd said._

 

 

He had no idea how long he sat there with his back against the wall and his head in his hands, but he knew he was stiff and sore when Amy's husband found him.

"Hey, Tommy?"

He looked up, eyes bleary and red, his pained gaze falling to the cup of coffee the man was holding out to him.  What was his name?   _Blake._ He reached up to take it, nodding his thanks but making no move to stand.

Blake put his own back to the wall and slid down next to him, sighing as he rubbed his face with his hands.  "Good hiding spot.  I'll have to remember this is here."

Tommy laughed, taking a sip of the coffee.  It was hot and bitter and the shock of it on his tongue instantly cleared his head a bit.

"How's Chloe doing?"

"She's out now.  In observation right now, they'll move her to recovery in a little while."

He nodded, relieved, but that awful clutching pain around his heart refused to let up and he drank his coffee in silence.  Amy's husband leaned forward to peek down the hall, relaxing back against the wall again when he saw no one searching for either of them.

The two men sat in a quiet sort of camaraderie, neither of them saying anything.

 

 

_Chloe was sitting on the edge of the bed, tears on her cheeks that she tried so hard to hide from him.  But he'd already seen them, and it killed him to know he'd caused them._

_"I just...all I meant was...you don't have to hurt yourself working so hard at it."  He was kneeling in front of her, his hands rubbing gently up and down her legs.  He'd scolded her when he saw the bruises.  "My caring about you isn't dependent on you walking again one day.  I could care less if you ever walk again - if you're in that chair for the rest of your life I will care for you the same exact way I do now."_

_She had stared at him in shock, not sure she understood what he was saying.  The confusion on her face broke his heart and he took a deep breath, resting his forehead on her knees for a moment before he turned his face up again to meet her stare.  He knew exactly what he meant.  Nothing in his relationship with this girl was dependent on her recovery.  She was perfect the way she was, just as she was._

_"I love you, Chloe."_

 

 

 

To be continued... 


	10. Chapter 10

 

 

 

 

The nurse pulled the sheet down, exposing Chloe's back, giving Tommy one last _are you sure?_ look before carefully removing the bandages.  He'd nodded, feeling brave and confident in his own ability to see whatever he was about to see without being reduced to a horrified pansy, but despite his best internal pep talk he still found himself turning away with a sick rush of heat to his head.  The incision stretched from above the curve at the small of her back to her tailbone and was closed with thick metal staples.

 _Frankenstein_ was the only word he could put together in his suddenly absent thoughts as he steeled himself and nodded to the nurse;  she was giving him a scowl, but it wasn't without a bit of humor.  This was, after all, his first time.

"You got yourself?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm good."

The contents of the tray of tools and bandaging materials were committed quickly to memory as he watched her begin to clean and redress the wound.  He would be doing this himself once she was home, so he watched carefully despite the sick feeling it gave him in his stomach when Chloe flinched at the cold antiseptic-soaked cotton.  She was out, blissfully sleeping off her sedatives, and the nurse waved Tommy around to the other side of the bed and stepped back so that he could take her place.

He sucked in a deep breath and paused for a second to work up his nerve, then picked up the gauze and started working.  The bruising around the incision was startling, as was the amount of dried blood that had seeped out of it.  The orange antiseptic gel that stained her skin made it look even worse and for a moment - _just_ a moment - his head spun sickly.  But he got hold of himself immediately and set about cleaning the blood away from the staples, realizing when he was finished that he'd been clenching his jaw hard enough to make his teeth hurt.

But he'd done it, all of it, and now as he was taping the clean bandage over her back he looked up to see Amy entering the room with Blake behind her.  He looked up and indulged himself a proud smile as Amy gave him a questioning look, her eyes going to the tray on the bed.

"Did you just - ?"

The nurse gathered the old bandages and the used supplies and cleared them away, patting Tommy on the arm with a proud smile of her own.  "He did the whole thing, cleaned and dressed it, and never squicked out once."

There was a look of surprise mixed with resentment on Amy's face as she ducked down to kiss Chloe's forehead, carefully avoiding eye contact with either Tommy or the nurse.  "Did he.  Well I guess that makes your job easier, doesn't it?"

Blake cleared his throat and quickly thanked the nurse, standing nervously by the door for a moment before finally shoving out his hand; Tommy shook it, exchanging a nod with him, that little thing men do when they know what each other means to say but it can't discreetly be said.  A few words of generic small talk followed before he went to the little visitors' sofa to stretch out as Amy fussed over her sister, muttering as she rearranged her arms and legs, shifting pillows and checking IV lines and drips.  He was tired;  he'd been at the hospital for the equivalent of an entire day without more than a few minutes of a catnap and a lot of coffee to keep himself going, but he wasn't about to let Amy see him go home to rest.  He had a lot to prove, and he intended to do just that.

The girl sleeping peacefully on her stomach in the narrow surgical bed was going to be depending on him to step up for her consistently during the next week.  Amy didn't think he could do it, but he was determined to show her how wrong she was about him.  Chloe wasn't a cute little toy that he would put on the shelf when he got tired of playing with it.  She wasn't a novelty or a philanthropic project to earn himself anti-ableism points.  She wasn't a poor crippled girl that he felt sorry for or carried some misplaced sense of duty to.

She was a perfect little person who had burrowed deep into his heart, and as he kicked his sneakers off and propped his feet up on the coffee table in front of the couch, all he could think of was how she'd turned her face toward him in recovery when she heard his voice.  There had been a tiny hint of a smile, the only thing she could do while still heavily sedated.  But she'd known he was there, and she'd known it was him.

The recognition had felt like validation, especially when Amy came out after her turn and he'd heard her tell Blake that she was still sleeping.

_Even sedated she knows when to fake unconsciousness._

He was still chuckling to himself at the idea of Chloe coming out of surgery and her first semi-conscious thought being that she would need to ignore her sister convincingly.  But she had graced him with a smile and a twitch of her fingers when he touched her hand, and not even the smug feeling it gave him toward Amy was enough to eclipse the sheer joy that made him feel.

 

 

Getting Chloe home two days later wasn't the calm, quiet experience Tommy had hoped it would be, despite his best efforts at making it so - Blake drove while Amy fussed and fretted over every bump and turn in the road, adding more stress to an already unnerving event, and though she had relented and allowed Tommy to come with them she made it abundantly clear that she resented his presence.  She had to acknowledge, though, that he would need the experience if he was going to look after her for the week, and once she had him captive in her car she started running him through drills of every possible _what if_ scenario imaginable.

Tommy knew she still didn't believe he was capable of taking care of her sister, but he was intent on proving her wrong and stepped up to do everything without being asked, from strapping Chloe into the back seat and making sure she was as comfortable as possible to holding her head so that the motion of the car wouldn't hurt her back, answering neverending test questions for the duration of the trip.  And when they arrived, he picked her up and carried her into the house before Blake even had her wheelchair out of the trunk, Amy running after them fussing for him to wait so she could unlock the door.

He wanted to prove that he didn't need her - her input or her assistance - but he knew she would be true to her nature and hold on with everything she had, getting her teeth into him and refusing to let go until he gave up.

That wasn't going to happen.

But each of them was just as stubborn as the other, both holding tightly to something they didn't want to lose, knowing they were going to have to climb over each other to keep it.

 

The bracing that kept Chloe's back straight was removed first as they got her ready for bed, an intricate mess of metal rods laced through stiff fabric with tiny hook and eye closures that took careful handling to free her from without jostling her too much.  Amy refused to let him do it himself and Tommy ended up keeping his eyes carefully averted after the brace was removed, making sure there was nothing for Amy to gripe at him about or accuse him of as they got Chloe redressed and into bed.  She would have to be laid on her stomach for several days and he moved around the room checking everything to make sure she was comfortable, flattening her pillow so that her neck wasn't too bent, turning her feet inward so that her knees wouldn't get stiff.  Amy watched him carefully, looking for but finding nothing to complain about or correct him on.  He knew it irritated her to no end, but the begrudging approval on her face when he sorted her medications by memory was enough satisfaction for him and he caught the amused little smile on her husband's face as they finally got ready to leave.  There was a sort of gratitude in that grin, an almost conspiratorial _thanks for telling her where to fuck off, buddy._

He'd passed all the tests, he could tell by the grim, annoyed set to her lips as Amy gave him her final set of instructions.

"Call me at ten tonight, don't forget."

"I won't."

"She has to be woken up for her meds, do _not_ forget."

"I won't forget."

"And if you need _any_ help or have a question about  _anything,_ don't try to figure it out yourself okay?  Call me immediately."

"I will."

Blake opened the door, clearing his throat and rocking on his toes a little, anxious to get home.  Amy ignored him, still fretting over the details as she pulled on her coat.  "Don't forget to check her catheter after she's asleep for the night.  The nurse will do it in the morning but she has a tendency to get bladder infections easily so be _sure_ to check it and make sure it hasn't slipped.  Do you remember how?"

"I remember how."

"You're not going to get all grossed out and skip it are you?"

"No."

"And make sure she's comfortable, and move her legs every four hours.  Do _not_ let her lie in the same position all night.  You got that?"

"I got it."

Blake finally spoke up, tapping impatiently on the door.  "Come on Amy, he's got it all down.  He'll be fine.  You'll call if you need help, right kid?"  

Tommy nodded, trying to exude confidence and calm through the rising anger and creeping exhaustion that were rapidly overtaking his willingness to put up with any more shit, a sweet smile plastered on his face holding back the verbal evidence of how he truly felt as he forced a cheerful sort of cooperativeness into his voice.

_"Absolutely."_

 

Once they were finally gone, he put his back to the door and banged his head against the frame, muttering all the different variations of the word _bitch_ that he could think of, including a few foreign words and a couple of purely made up ones.  Controlling his temper and biting his tongue for the last three days had gotten his blood pressure up, and he was just getting his breathing back under control when he heard a small voice asking,  "Are they gone?"

Hurrying to Chloe's bedroom, he knelt down next to her bed and brushed her hair back gently.  "You're awake?"

"Yeah."

He laughed softly, settling his chin on the pillow beside her face.  "How long?"

"The whole time."  She giggled sleepily, scowling a little;  he wasn't sure if it was from discomfort or if she was annoyed with how much Amy had pestered him, but the fact that she'd played possum to avoid having to talk to her sister was hilarious and he kissed her gently on the nose.

"We got this, don't we Chloe girl."

"Yeah," she said quietly, finally allowing the sedatives to lull her to sleep as Tommy rubbed his thumb soothingly over the back of her hand.  "We got this."

 

 

_To be continued..._

 


End file.
